Springwood Healthcare Services Ltd

Updated 28 March 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:

• The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. ExE 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. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. At the time of the inspection there were 20 people using the service.

• The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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 visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

• Inspection site visit activity started on 26 February and ended on 27 February 2019. We visited the office location to see the manager and staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. On 27 February 2019 we made telephone calls to people who used the service and their relatives.

What we did:

• Before the inspection took place, we looked at information we held about the service including registration information and statutory notifications. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.

• The provider sent us their Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

• We requested for feedback from external professionals the service worked with. We did not receive a response to our requests.

• During our inspection we spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, care co-ordinator and assistant administrator. The registered manager, deputy manager and care co-ordinator also supported people with their care.

• We spoke with three people who used the service and four relatives to gain their views on the support they received.

• We looked at a range of documents and written records including three people's care records, four staff recruitment records, training records and information relating to the auditing and monitoring of service provision.

• We requested additional evidence to be sent to us after our inspection. This was received and the information was used as part of our inspection.

Updated 28 March 2019

About the service:

• Springwood Healthcare Services Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community, so that they can live as independently as possible.

• At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting 20 people with the regulated activity.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People and their relatives told us that the service met their needs and was safe. Comments included, “I feel safe because my needs are being taken care of” and “I can leave my mum with them for her care.”

• Risks were assessed and reviewed. Staff understood the risks to people’s health and wellbeing.

• The registered manager and staff were clear on their responsibilities to safeguard people.

• Medicines were managed and administered safely.

• People and relatives commented on staff kindness and said they were respectful.

• People told us there were sufficient staff to meet their needs. Records showed enough staff were available to support people safely.

• Staff understood their roles and were supported to further develop their skills and knowledge.

• The provider had a process in place to enable them to respond to people’s concerns, investigate them and take action to address the concerns.

• People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

• There were emergency backup systems in place to allow care to continue at all times.

• Audit systems were in place to improve quality.

• Further information is in the detailed findings below.

Rating at last inspection:

• Requires Improvement (Report published 13 February 2018). We identified one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, in respect of governance processes because some audits were not effective at identifying incomplete care delivery records.

Why we inspected:

• This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. At this inspection we found that improvements had been made to audit systems and governance processes.

Follow up:

• We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk