Archived: Guinness Care At Home Cornwall

Updated 14 June 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 team consisted of one adult social care 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 for older people. Their area of expertise was in older people’s care. The expert by experience telephoned a sample of people and their relatives to check if people were happy with their care and support.

Service and service type: Guinness Care At Home Cornwall is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes in the community. This includes people with physical disabilities and dementia care needs. The service mainly provides personal care for people in short visits at key times of the day to help people get up in the morning, go to bed at night and support with meals.

At the time of the inspection the service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. A registered manager and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. A registered manager from Guinness’ Plymouth office had applied to be the registered manager for this service until the permanent manager returned from extended absence.

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 20 May 2019 and ended on 24 May 2019. We visited the office location on 20 May 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did: Before the inspection we reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we made the judgements in this report. We also reviewed notifications we had been sent. Notifications are specific issues that registered people must tell us about.

During the inspection we spoke with four care staff, the manager, the operations manager and the care co-ordinator. We visited two people in their own homes and met two relatives. The expert by experience telephoned and spoke with six people who used the service and three relatives to gain their views of the service. We reviewed four staff recruitment files, supervision and training records, four care records and records relating to health and safety, safeguarding and other aspects of the service.

Updated 14 June 2019

About the service:

Guinness Care At Home Cornwall is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes in the community. When we inspected the service was providing the regulated activity, personal care, to approximately 30 people in St Austell, Wadebridge, Padstow and Bodmin areas in Cornwall.

People’s experience of using this service:

People using the service all told us they felt safe and staff treated them in a caring and respectful manner. Comments included, “I feel safe because you can ask them to do anything”, “They always ask me if I am managing ok" and “All the staff are very polite, which is important.”

The service had recently been short staffed. People and staff told us staffing levels were improving and more staff were still being recruited. This period of staff shortages had impacted on the rotas and resulted in some people receiving an inconsistent service. However, people told us the reliability of the service was improving.

People told us they were given a list each week detailing the times of their visits and the names of the staff booked. People told us if the staff or times altered they were mostly informed of these changes.

Some people told us they did not always have consistent staff. However, they were happy with all the staff who provided care for them and new staff were introduced to them before they worked on their own. People said staff always stayed for the full time of the visit and were competent in their roles.

Assessments were carried out to identify any risks to the person using the service and to the staff supporting them. Care plans were personalised to the individual and recorded details about each person’s specific needs and wishes. These were kept under regular review and updated as people’s needs changed.

People were supported to access healthcare services, staff recognised changes in people's health, and sought professional advice appropriately.

Staff were recruited safely and they received regular supervision and support from management. New staff completed an induction which involved training and a period of shadowing more experienced staff. Training was regularly updated so staff were aware of any changes in working practices.

There was a positive culture in the service and management and staff were committed to ensuring people received a good service. Staff told us they were well supported and had a good working relationship with each other and the management team.

People said the management of the service had not always been reliable. However, all reported that they felt the running of the service and the rotas were improving. People, their relatives and staff told us management were approachable and they listened to them when they had any concerns or ideas. All feedback was used to make continuous improvements to the service.

Rating at last inspection: Good. Report published on 1 December 2016.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

The full details can be found on our website at www.cqc.org.uk