Background to this inspection
Updated
21 October 2023
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
The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector, and 2 Experts 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 provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.
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 it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 30 March 2023 and ended on 10 April 2023. We visited the location’s service on 30 March 2023.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since their last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and health and social care professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with the registered manager/nominated individual, who is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also spoke with 10 people and 11 relatives. We sent questionnaires to staff and we received 11 responses. We looked at 6 people’s care records. We reviewed variety of records relating to the management of the service, including medicines administration records, policies, and quality of the service.
Updated
21 October 2023
About the service
Snowball Care UK Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service supports people over 65 years old, people with a learning disability and autistic people. At the time of our inspection there were 95 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.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support: Staff supported people to make care and support decisions that met their individual needs and abilities. Staff knew people well and understood how to meet their individual needs. Care records were written so people could understand their support and helped them to make informed choices about the care they received. 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.
Right Care: People received good quality care and support. Staff were kind and respected people’s choice. Staff provided care and support, so people's privacy and dignity were maintained. Staff understood abuse and safeguarding and how to protect people from the risk of harm. Staff were trained and skilled to meet people's individual care and support needs.
Right Culture: People received good quality care staff who understood their needs. People, relatives and people who were important were involved in the assessment and reviews of care and support. The registered manager monitored the quality of care to ensure the service was of a good standard. Lessons were learnt from previous incidents and action had been taken to improve the quality of the service.
For more details, please see the report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this was inspected but not rated, (published, 1 June 2022). The previous focused inspection was requires improvement (published, 11 May 2020).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. Please see the Safe, Effective and Well-led sections of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Snowball Care UK Ltd 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.