Bare Hall Quality Carers Limited

Updated 22 February 2019

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 comprehensive inspection took place between 14 and 28 January 2019. The inspection was announced. We gave the registered provider 48 hours’ notice as we needed to be sure someone would be at the office to assist us with the inspection process. At the time of the inspection visit approximately 200 people were receiving regulated activity from Bare Hall Quality Carers.

The inspection was carried out by an adult social care 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. The expert by experience had knowledge of caring for an older person.

Before the inspection took place, we spoke with the local authority contracts teams, we received no information of concern.

As part of the inspection process we reviewed information held upon our database regarding the service. This included notifications submitted by the registered provider relating to incidents, health and safety and safeguarding concerns which affect the health and wellbeing of people. We used this information provided to inform our inspection plan.

To gather evidence, we carried out two inspection visits at the office. Additionally, we carried out five home visits and carried out telephone interviews with people, relatives and staff to gather further evidence. The registered manager did not select and was unaware who the inspection team contacted by telephone. In total, we spoke with seventeen people who used the service and six relatives to gain their feedback about what it was like to receive a service from Bare Hall Quality Carers.

Throughout the inspection process we spoke with the registered manager, the operations manager, one member of the management team and eight carers. We looked at the care records of eight people, recruitment records of six staff members and other records relating to the management of the service. This included accident and incident records, quality audit tools and data management systems.

Updated 22 February 2019

Bare Hall Quality Carers is a domiciliary service which provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service covers Lancaster, Morecambe and surrounding areas.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection visit we found the service remained good.

Why the service is rated good.

People, relatives and staff all agreed the service was well managed. However, there was a common consensus that communication between staff in the office and staff providing direct care could be improved. We have made a recommendation about this.

Changes had been made to medicines processes to ensure they were in line with good practice guidance. However, these were not yet firmly embedded. We have made a recommendation about this.

Systems, processes and practices continued to be implemented to safeguard people from abuse and risk of harm. Good practice guidance had been followed to keep people safe. People and relatives told us safety was always considered.

Staff told us staffing rotas were planned in advance to allow them to visit the same people. They said this promoted consistency and allowed person centred care to be delivered.

People told us staff were reliable and always worked the allocated time. They said staff were empathetic and motivated to provide compassionate care.

People continued to receive personalised care which was responsive to individual need. Staff had a good understanding of people’s individual needs so care could be provided with support which was individual to them.

People received care which was regularly reviewed and support was based around good practice evidence. Staff were supported with continuous learning to ensure they had the correct skills to provide effective care.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Consent to care and treatment was actively sought.

The organisation was currently reviewing technology to increase the effectiveness within the service.

The registered provider was responsive in seeking feedback from people and relatives to ensure people were happy with the service provided. We saw complaints were appropriately responded to.

Governance was embedded within the service and was based upon good practice guidance.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.