Sylvian Care Reading and Wokingham

Updated 2 July 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 9 June 2022 and ended on 17 June 2022. We visited the location’s office on 9 June 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven people who use the service and 13 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the registered manager, nominated individual and care staff. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and 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.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at quality assurance records.

Updated 2 July 2022

About the service

Sylviancare Reading & Wokingham is a domicillary care agency providing personal care to people. The service provides support to younger adults or older people who may also have a sensory impairment, physical disability, learning disability, dementia or a mental health condition. At the time of our inspection there were 86 people using the service.

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

Medicines were managed safely and risk assessments were completed for each person to ensure that they were provided with safe care by staff. The provider recruited staff in accordance with regulations and ensured only staff suitable to support people living in their own home were appointed.

Care plans were person centred and included the input of the relevant person. 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.

The registered manager and staff had an open and transparent way of working to ensure the safety of the people using the service. The registered manager was able to demonstrate that quality assurance systems ensured the quality of the service was maintained. Staff knew people they supported well and cared about their wellbeing. The provider was able to demonstrate their compliance with legal obligations and any learning from incidents or accidents was undertaken effectively.

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 4 February 2021). 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.

At our last inspection we recommended the provider considers documenting actions taken as a result of reviews and investigations in order to continue to improve the service. At this inspection, we found the provider had acted on the recommendation and improvements had been made.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced focused inspection of this service on 15 January 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve good governance, fit and proper persons employed and notification of incidents.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Sylviancare Reading & Wokingham on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.