Background to this inspection
Updated
2 October 2019
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
One inspector, one assistant inspector and two Experts by Experience carried out this inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary care provider and the registered manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started on 17 September 2019 and ended on 18 September 2019. We visited the office location on 18 September 2019 to see the registered manager and staff; and to review care records, policies and procedures.
What we did before the inspection
We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.
We asked the local authority and Healthwatch for any information they had which would aid our inspection. Local authorities together with other agencies may have responsibility for funding people who used the service and monitoring its quality. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with 16 people who used the service and 18 relatives about their experience of the care provided. In total we spoke with eleven members of staff including the registered manager, two care assessors seven care staff and the nominated individual. We also spent time talking with several newly recruited care staff members undertaking their induction training.
We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and records of medicines administration. We looked at six staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. In addition, we looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality monitoring checks.
Updated
2 October 2019
About the service
Nationwide Care Services Limited (Birmingham and Solihull) is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older adults some of whom are living with dementia and younger disabled adults. Not everyone using Nationwide Care Services Limited (Birmingham and Solihull) received a regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service received by people provided with 'personal care': for example, help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection 425 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People received safe care and support as the staff team had been trained to recognise potential signs of abuse and understood what to do to safely support people.
The provider had assessed the risks to people associated with their care and support. Staff members were knowledgeable about these risks and knew what to do to minimise the potential for harm to people.
People received safe support with their medicines by trained and competent staff members.
Staff members followed effective infection prevention and control procedures when supporting people.
The provider supported staff in providing effective care for people through person-centred care planning, training and one-to-one supervision.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems at Nationwide Care Services Limited (Birmingham and Solihull) supported this practice.
People were referred to additional healthcare services when required.
People received help and support from a kind and compassionate staff team with whom they had developed positive relationships.
People were supported by staff members who were aware of their individual protected characteristics like age, gender and disability.
People were provided with information in a way they could understand. The provider had systems in place to encourage and respond to any compliments or complaints from people or those close to them.
The provider, and management team, had good links with the local communities within which people lived.
The management team and provider had systems in place to identify improvements and drive good care.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was ‘Good’ overall with ‘Requires Improvement’ in the key question ‘Well-Led,” (Published 29 November 2016.)
At this inspection we found improvements had been made in this key question.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.