Archived: Heronsmere Home Care

Updated 5 May 2016

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 was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2012, to look at the overall quality of the service and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection was carried out on 17 March 2016 by one inspector and was announced. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming. We did this because the manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service therefore we needed to ensure they would be available.

Prior to this inspection we reviewed information we held about the service including statutory notifications. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us.

During the inspection we spoke with one person who used the service and visited one person in their home. We spoke with the only employed staff member and the manager. We looked at two peoples care records and two staff files. We reviewed other documents relating to the management of the service.

Updated 5 May 2016

This inspection was carried out on 17 March 2016 and was announced which meant the provider was informed 48 hours before the inspection. This was the first inspection since the service had registered with the Care Quality Commission on 26 June 2015. Heronsmere Home Care provides personal care to people living in their own homes. There were six people using the service on the day of our inspection however of these six people three people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

The service did not have a registered manager in post. The nominated individual for the service was also manager for the service however they had not registered as the manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People and staff were positive about the management of the service and knew the management team well. However, the systems in place to monitor and review the quality of care people received were still being developed to ensure incidents, issues or concerns could be accurately recorded and responded to so. This included staff meetings being formalised, audit tools being developed and incident monitoring being reviewed robustly.

The provider had failed to ensure all the necessary recruitment checks had been carried out prior to a staff member commencing employment at the service, however they took action to complete this during the inspection and ensured the staff member would be supervised until this information was received.

People felt safe using the service and risk assessments were in place to ensure staff worked safely. Staff were clear on how to recognise and report abuse. There had been no accidents or reportable incidents and the service did not provide support with people’s medicines.

People received care that met their needs at call times that suited them. They were involved in the planning of their care and felt listened to. People received support with eating and drinking as needed and calls were flexible to support people to attend their hospital appointments. People were supported by regular staff who knew them well and they felt they had a good relationship with them. People were treated with dignity and respect.

People’s consent was obtained prior to support being given and staff were familiar with the Mental Capacity Act and how this may affect them in their role. Staff received appropriate training and supervision for their role. There was sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs.