We carried out a review of the data available to us about Awarding Care Ltd on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Awarding Care Ltd, you can give feedback on this service.
Awarding Care Ltd service is a domiciliary care service, registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection the service was providing personal care to 178 people.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People received good care and support from dedicated staff who consistently demonstrated strong caring values that were embedded throughout the service. People, their relatives and external professionals spoke highly about the service.
People felt safe. Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities and promoted people’s wellbeing. People’s personal safety was well managed and there was a range of risk assessments in place. Incidents and accidents were fully investigated, and actions were taken to prevent recurrence. Staff followed infection control and prevention procedures. Excellent systems and processes were in place for the safe management of medicines and people received their medicines as prescribed.
People were fully involved in the assessments of their needs and personalisation of their care plans. Care was planned and delivered to meet people’s needs, legislation and best practice guidance.
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.
People and their relatives were included and supported to take decisions about how their needs were met. People’s views and concerns were listened to, people and relatives used a range of ways to give feedback, which the service always acted on.
People were cared for by staff who were safely recruited, well trained and very knowledgeable of the people they supported. Staff were consistently responsive to people’s individual needs and choices. Staff were always kind and compassionate, maintained privacy and treated people with upmost dignity and respect.
The service and staff worked hard to prevent social isolation by giving up their own time, making financial contributions and actively fundraising, to promote well-being, social stimulation, activities and outings, free of charge to people using this service.
Highly effective systems were in place to monitor the quality of the care provided and to promote the continuous improvement of the service. The enthusiasm and commitment of the provider, registered manager and team to develop and improve the service, was evident in their commitment and dedication. The management and staff worked in partnership with external health and social care organisations, building positive relationships to benefit people’s health and wellbeing.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good (published 11 May 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
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.
The service is registered to provide care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, the service was providing care and support to 130 people.
A registered manager was in post when we inspected the service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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 were happy with the support they received and felt safe with the staff supporting them. People knew the staff and felt comfortable with staff supporting them in their home. Staff understood how to protect people from harm and had undertaken training. The registered manager understood their obligations and was in contact with the local authority to discuss any concerns. Staff understood the risks to people’s health that people lived with and how to keep people safe. The registered manger included background checks of potential staff to understand whether they were suitable to work at the service. People’s support with medicines was reviewed by the registered manager to assure themselves that received the support they needed.
Staff had access to regular training and support and this helped staff better support people. Staff understood the importance of obtaining a person’s consent. The registered manager understood the requirements of the law and what action to take if they became concerned about a person’s ability to make decisions for themselves. People were supported to make choices in the meals and drinks staff prepared for them. Staff understood people’s dietary needs and how to support people to have healthy choices. People were supported to access additional medical help when this was required.
People liked the staff supporting them and felt at ease around them. People felt staff understood their needs and understood how to support them. Staff checked people were happy with the care and support they received and treated people with dignity and respect.
People’s care was reviewed and updated based on changing needs and circumstances. People were supported to express how they needed help and supported to provide feedback on the care.
The registered manager had systems in place for understanding people’s care needs. Regular review meetings with staff were all part of his system for monitoring and reviewing the quality of care people received. Staff described a positive and open environment to work within where they were able to access support and feedback on their performance.