Updated 17 December 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. 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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
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
This inspection was announced. 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 20 November 2019 and ended on 21 November 2019. We visited the office location on 20 November 2019.
What we did before the inspection
We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We asked the local authority and Healthwatch Rochdale. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. Neither organisations had any concerns. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with five people who used the service and a family member in their own homes. We spoke with seven people and two family members over the telephone. We spoke with them about the experience of care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, the financial director and four care staff. We reviewed a range of records including quality assurance questionnaires, three people’s care records and associated documents. We also looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment, training and supervision.