Background to this inspection
Updated
20 July 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
One inspector carried out this inspection.
Service and service type:
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes some of whom may have physical disabilities.
The service continued to have the same registered manager. 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.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. That was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 3 June 2019 and ended on 7 June 2019. We visited the office location on both dates.
What we did:
Before our inspection, we reviewed all the key information providers are required to send us about their service, including statutory notifications. We use the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.
During our inspection we spoke with the registered manager, the care co-ordinator, the quality assurance officer, the agency’s lead for safeguarding and two care workers. We also looked at a range of records including five people’s care plans, four staff files and various documents relating to the overall management of the service.
After our first visit we made telephone contact with five people receiving a service from this agency and two of their relatives. We also spoke with two health and social care professionals at the local authority.
Updated
20 July 2019
About the service
PJ’s Community Services Ltd is a domiciliary home care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection 15 people were receiving personal care from them. Most people were older adults who had a range of physical disabilities.
Five other people who also received a home care service from this agency did not receive a regulated activity from them. This included companionship and cleaning services. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; 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
People’s experiences of using this service had improved in the 12 months since their last inspection. The overall rating for this service has therefore increased from ‘Requires improvement’ to ‘Good’.
This was because we found at this inspection the provider had followed the action plan they had sent us. For example, they took appropriate steps to review and revise people’s care plans and risk management plans to ensure they contained all the information staff needed to manage risks appropriately.
People using the service and their relatives told us they were happy with the service provided by PJ’s. People told us, “They are very good, we’ve had them for some time now and are happy with the support we have received,” and “We haven’t had any problems, we have regular staff who visit us and they are all kind and caring.”
The service had safeguarding procedures in place and staff had a clear understanding of these procedures. Appropriate staff recruitment checks took place before new staff started working for the service. Staff administered medicines safely and they told us they were provided with appropriate equipment to reduce the risk of the spread of infection.
Staff had a good understanding of their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Staff supported people to make choices and decisions about their care.
People were supported to stay healthy by staff who were aware of people’s healthcare needs and through regular monitoring by health and social care professionals.
People and professionals told us staff were consistently kind and caring and established positive relationships with them. Staff valued people, treated them with respect and promoted their rights, choice and independence.
Care plans were recently reviewed and revised, detailing how people wished to be supported and were produced jointly with them. People and relatives told us they were involved in making decisions about their support.
There was a complaints procedure in place and people felt confident to raise any concerns either with the staff or the registered manager if they needed to.
The provider’s quality assurance processes had improved since the last inspection. Areas covered by the audit process were comprehensive. However, since this had only been implemented in the last month prior to this inspection we could not be assured the process has been fully embedded in practice. 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.