Archived: Casa Doncaster

Updated 23 October 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 1 and 2 October 2018. We gave the service two days' notice of the inspection because we wanted to visit people in their homes and we needed support from the registered manager to arrange this. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 46 people.

On the 1 October 2018 we visited five people in their homes to ask their opinions about the care they received and look at their care records. Whilst out on visits we were accompanied by a field care supervisor and met with three relatives and four care workers. On 1 October 2018 we also spoke over the telephone with nine people who used the service and three relatives.

On the 2 October 2018 we visited the office location to see the regional manager and office staff and reviewed care records and policies and procedures relating to the service. We also met with one person who used the service and three care workers.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors 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. The experts by experience had experience of supporting and caring for

young and older people.

We used information the provider sent us in the 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.

Prior to the inspection visit we gathered information from many sources. We looked at the information received about the service from notifications sent to the Care Quality Commission by the registered manager. We also spoke with the local authority commissioners, contracts officers and safeguarding and Healthwatch (Doncaster). Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

Updated 23 October 2018

We undertook an announced inspection of Casa Doncaster on 1 and 2 October 2018. Casa Doncaster is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care for people living in their own homes in the Doncaster area.

We gave the registered manager short notice that we would be coming because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we wanted the registered manager to assist us in planning visits to people in their homes.

This was Casa Doncaster second inspection since they registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in October 2016. The last inspection was in October 2017 when the service was rated ‘requires improvement.’ At that inspection we found two breaches of the regulations in relation to staffing and good governance. This was because sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons were not deployed to meet the needs of people who used the service. Also, the systems or processes did not operate effectively to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service and mitigate risks to the health, safety and welfare of people.

Following the last inspection, we asked the provider to complete an action plan to show what they would do and by when to improve the key questions safe, effective, responsive and well led to at least good.

At this inspection we found that evidence supported the rating of ‘good.’ This was because the provider had addressed the shortfalls we identified at the last inspection.

You can read the report from our last inspections, by selecting the 'all reports' link for ‘Casa Doncaster’ on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

There was a manager at the service who was registered with CQC. 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.

Overall people told us they felt safe with the support they received from the staff at Casa Doncaster.

People were protected against the risks associated with medicines because the registered provider and registered manager had appropriate arrangements in place to manage medicines safely. We found some small gaps in the information required to be kept in medicine administration records. This was dealt with on the day of the inspection.

The registered provider had a policy and procedure in place for the safe recruitment of staff.

Most staff told us they felt supported by the registered manager and other senior staff. We found staff were provided with a regular programme of training, supervision and appraisal, which assisted them to deliver effective care.

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.

People's care and support was planned by a multi-disciplinary team of people. People told us they were supported to maintain good health and wellbeing, which included being provided with a nutritionally balanced diet and plenty of drinks.

Staff were caring and compassionate and engaged people in friendly interaction, respecting their preferences and individual likes and dislikes. Relatives told us staff respected people's privacy and dignity and staff could describe how they managed this. People's cultural and religious needs were met by staff at this service.

People told us they could talk to their care workers and the office staff at Casa Doncaster. They said if they had any concerns or worries they were confident staff would listen to them and look at ways of resolving their issues.

There were opportunities for people who used the service, their families, staff and healthcare professionals to become involved in developing the service and they were encouraged to provide feedback about the service provided. This was both on an informal basis speaking to the managers' and through a quality assurance survey.