Care Assistance

Updated 15 December 2022

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people and staff.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 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.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Notice of inspection

We gave short notice of the inspection in order for the manager to provide us with the documentation we needed to look at.

Inspection activity started on 7 November 2022 and ended on 22 November 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 members of staff and 8 people’s family members. We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care records and various medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as phone and video calls to enable us to engage with people and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

Updated 15 December 2022

About the service

Care Assistance is a service providing personal care and support for people in their own homes. The service was supporting around 100 people at the time of the inspection which included people living with dementia and people with physical disabilities.

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 spoke positively about their experience of receiving care from this provider. One person’s relative said: The carers are so lovely. They will sit down and have a chat with [my relative] when time permits.” Another said: “Honestly all I can say is ‘wow’. We’re just over the moon. Everything…has been great. The sense of humour that has been brought to the house, what a difference it has made to [my relative]”.

Where incidents had occurred, the provider had made the legally required notifications to CQC, and where appropriate made changes to how care services were delivered. The manager had a good oversight of the service and knew people’s needs well. The manager was committed to continuous improvement and passionate about the quality of service people received.

Medicines were managed safely with regular audits of people’s care, including their medication, taking place.

Staff had a good understanding of infection control procedures, and told us personal protective equipment (PPE) was plentiful. One person’s relative told us: “All of the PPE is worn. Everything is in the home.”

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. Care took place in accordance with people’s consent, and staff confirmed they always checked people’s preferences before carrying out care tasks.

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 December 2019)

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains good based on the findings of this inspection. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Care Assistance 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.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.