Equality Homecare Services Limited

Equality Homecare Services Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 11 adults at the time of the inspection.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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

People were safely supported by the staff team. Risks were assessed and monitored. Staff were aware of safe practices to support people and aware of safeguarding guidance and how to report any concerns. Medicines were safely managed.

Assessments were undertaken to ensure the service could meet people’s needs. Assessments captured the support needed with personal care, eating and drinking and the management of medicines. The manager liaised with health and social care professionals to ensure people received the right support at the right time. 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 were well cared for and told us, the staff team were kind and respectful. Staff knew people well and could describe people’s needs. Staff provided dignified care to people and people looked forward to their visits.

Care plans captured people’s needs and had been developed with people and their families. Staff were familiar with care plans and they were regularly reviewed to ensure they remained accurate. A complaints procedure was in place and people felt confident to make a complaint but had not needed to. No complaints had been received since the inspection in September 2016.

The service was well-led, and people and staff were complimentary about the support from the registered manager and the manager. Audits to monitor and improve the service were in place and regular feedback was obtained from people to assure the provider, the service was providing high quality care. Feedback was positive.

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 (published 1 December 2016). There was also an inspection on 7 and 8 May 2019 however, the report following that inspection was withdrawn as there was an issue with some of the information that we gathered.

Why we inspected

This is a planned re-inspection because of the issue highlighted above.

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.

Equality Homecare Services are a domiciliary care agency, which provides personal care to people living in their own home. The agency provides care and support mainly, but not exclusively, to people in the Stockport area of Manchester. The agency's office is situated in South Manchester.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The staff we spoke with were able to describe how individual people preferred their care and support to be delivered and the importance of treating people with respect in their own homes.

The care plans we looked at were person centred and were reviewed on a regular basis to make sure they provided accurate and up to date information. The staff we spoke with told us they used the care plans as working documents and they provided sufficient information to enable them to carry out their role effectively and in people's best interest.

We found the administration of medicines was safe. Daily notes showed people were receiving their medicines and people were satisfied they received appropriate assistance from staff with their medicines, we found no gaps in the recording on Medication Administration Records (MARs) and audits on MARs returned to the service were carried out.

People received calls/visits at expected times and when this was not possible they were kept informed of any delays by staff. People were supported by regular staff members who were familiar with them and their needs. Positive feedback was given from people and relatives regarding the staff who provided their care and support. Staff knew how to protect people’s privacy and dignity and people confirmed this happened.

Where meals were provided the staff always asked people about their individual preferences and choices. Staff were able to recognise and report when people’s healthcare needs changed. When this happened, referrals were made to healthcare services to ensure people received the necessary assistance.

Staff were able to confidently describe how they would identify a person was being harmed and felt confident the management team would take appropriate action. They told us they were aware of the registered provider’s whistleblowing policy.

Recruitment processes were effective which meant people were protected from individuals identified as not suitable to working with vulnerable adults. Risks to people had been identified, assessed and reviewed.

Staff received effective support through supervision sessions, annual appraisal and ongoing training. Staff meetings were held and staff confirmed they were able to express their views at these meetings.

The registered manager demonstrated a good understanding of their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and staff showed a good knowledge of the people they supported and their capacity to make decisions.

There was a complaints procedure available which enabled people to raise any concerns or complaints about the care or support they received.

There was a quality assurance monitoring system in place that was designed to continually monitor and identify shortfalls in service provision. Audit results were analysed for themes and trends.

One relative of a person who used the service told us; "Our team of carers are excellent, I have no complaints at all. They are very caring and my X is very pleased with them." Another relative said "We are very happy with the quality of service they provide."

During the inspection we reviewed how medication was administered and recorded. We found medicines were safely administered and people who used the service received their medicines in the way they had been prescribed.

We looked at the personnel files of the five members of staff employed by the service. We found each file contained records which demonstrated that staff had been safely and effectively recruited.

We found that staff were clearly supported and valued by management. One member of staff told us; 'I feel very supported and there is always someone available for advice. We have regular supervision where we discuss training and even personal issues.'

We found the provider had effective systems in place to record, respond to and investigate any complaints made about the service.

A relative told us; 'I am aware of the complaints system but have never had need to instigate a formal complaint. They are very good at responding to the needs of families.'

The provider was meeting all but one of the outcomes that we looked at on this inspection. The one area of non compliance was that it was not clear that the provider acted in accordance with all the legal requirements regarding the recruitment of staff. We have issued a compliance action.