Background to this inspection
Updated
25 September 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
This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
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 (CQC). 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. The registered manager was not present at the inspection, however the branch manager was available.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with three relatives of people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the branch manager, national development manager, care consultant and care workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
Updated
25 September 2019
About the service
Reed Specialist Recruitment Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It was providing personal care to 13 people at the time of this inspection.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. People’s relatives told us they thought staff were well-trained and competent to perform their roles.
The documents we reviewed showed staff had appropriate background checks in place before starting work, and staff received good levels of training and support.
There were systems and processes in place to identify and investigate potential abuse through safeguarding procedures, and there were processes in place to report and investigate accidents and incidents.
People received an assessment to ensure staff could meet their needs before they used the service, and people were supported to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet. Staff worked with other agencies to ensure people’s health and wellbeing were maintained.
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 in the service supported this practice.
People’s relatives said staff were kind, caring and compassionate. They also said staff respected people’s choices, independence and privacy. Care plans recorded people’s cultural and religious preferences, where relevant.
Care plans contained good person-centred information about what people could do for themselves and what support they needed.
There were systems and processes in place for measuring the quality of the service and making improvements to it. Staff and relatives said they were confident in the leadership of the service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection (and update)
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published July 2018). The service was in breach of Regulation 12 (Safe Care and Treatment) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
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.