Archived: Allied Healthcare Macclesfield

Updated 8 August 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 10 and 11 July 2018. The provider was given 24 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we wanted to ensure that someone was available. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector and an expert-by-experience on the first day and an adult social care inspector on the second day of the 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.

Before the inspection, we checked information that we held about the service and the service provider. We had not asked for the provider information return (PIR). The PIR is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We could gather this information as part of our inspection. We invited the local authority to provide us with any information they held about Allied Healthcare Macclesfield. We used the information they shared with us as part of our planning for this inspection.

The registered manager and acting manager were available throughout the inspection to provide documentation and feedback.

During our inspection we spoke with eight people who used the service and three of their relatives. We spoke with six members of staff including the registered manager, the acting manager and four care staff.

We visited four people separately in their home with their permission. We looked at care records for four people who used the service. Records reviewed included: policies and procedures, three staff files covering recruitment and training records, medicine administration records (MAR), staff rotas and complaints.

Updated 8 August 2018

The inspection was announced and took place on 10 and 11 July 2018.

Allied Healthcare Macclesfield is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. This inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

At the time of our inspection, the service offered support to 60 people, however only 53 people were in receipt of the regulated activity ‘personal care’.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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 registered manager had been promoted and there was an acting manager in place who was applying to be registered with the CQC. Both people were present during the inspection.

At our last inspection in May 2016, we found two breaches of the regulations in relation to recruitment and governance. The provider sent us an action plan of how they would address these shortfalls. At this inspection, we found that improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of the regulations.

Everyone spoke highly of the support they received from Allied Healthcare, how staff were not rushed, had time to chat as well as do all the tasks they wished. There were sufficient staff to complete the scheduled visits for each person and travel time was built into the staff rotas. They told us that generally staff arrived on time and they were contacted if there were going to be any delays. Visit times were noted on some occasions to be shorter than contracted. The manager looked into this and has confirmed since the inspection that this is now being closely monitored.

Medicines were managed safely and staff received appropriate training and their competency was checked on a regular basis. Medication audits were completed regularly and corrective action taken where any errors were found.

Risk assessments were in place that identified risks to people and what action staff should take to minimise these risks without restricting people unnecessarily.

Arrangements were in place to protect people from the risk of abuse. We spoke to staff about their understanding of safeguarding and they could describe what action to take if they suspected that someone was at risk of abuse or they saw signs of abuse. People using the service reported that they felt safe and their relatives told us that they were confident that their family members were safe and supported by the staff of Allied Healthcare.

We looked at recruitment files for the most recently appointed staff members to check that effective recruitment procedures had been completed. We found that appropriate checks had been made to ensure that they were suitable to work with vulnerable adults.

People were consulted about their care and consent was recorded in the care files.

Staff received regular training and supervision to support them in their roles.

Care and support was provided by a consistent set of carers who knew the people they worked with well. Everyone we spoke with was positive about the approach of staff members. They spoke of staff being brilliant, professional and respectful.

The care files that we looked at contained the detailed relevant information that staff needed to care for the person including their preferences. It was clear through discussions with staff that they knew the people they were supporting well and they could provide consistent care to people and build up positive relationships.

Discussions with staff members identified that they felt happy and supported in their roles. They told us that the acting manager was supportive and they felt that they could contact them at any time.

Systems were in place to check the quality and safety of the service. Care reviews were completed at least annually with people and, if appropriate, their relatives. Surveys were completed annually to receive feedback about the service. Spot checks and observations were carried out with staff to ensure that the standards of care were maintained.