Alpha Care Services

Updated 8 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. 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 in the community. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults.

The service had a manager who was 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. However, the register manager was not available on the day of our inspection so three team leaders supported us with the inspection.

What we did:

Before the inspection, we reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR) submitted by the provider. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

We also reviewed other information we held about the service including previous inspection reports and information about important events that the service is legally required to submit to CQC. We also reviewed the provider’s action plan from their previous inspection.

Inspection site visit activity started on 6th February and ended 11th February 2019. We visited the office location on 6th February 2019 to speak to the team leaders and review people’s care records and policies and procedures. After the office visit we contacted and received feedback from five people/relatives and three care staff either by telephone or email.

During our visit to the service’s office we looked at four people’s care records and those files relating to staff development and the management of the service.

Updated 8 March 2019

About the service: Alpha Care Services provides personal care and support to people living in their own home. At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting 12 people who required personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People and their relatives told us they were happy with the service they received and felt safe amongst the staff who supported them.

• People highly praised the caring nature of staff and told us staff were polite and they respected people’s dignity and privacy.

• Examples were provided of how the service had provided additional support and care such as supporting people to access the local community and maintaining contact with their family.

• People were involved in the assessment of their care and encouraged to retain their independence. Their care plans provided staff with the information they needed to support people. People’s support needs were met. Staff always asked for people’s consent before they supported them.

• There were sufficient staff available to ensure people were supported by familiar staff who understood their needs. Improvement had been made to the records relating to the recruitment of staff.

• People’s support needs and risks had been assessed and were managed well, although more detail was required in the hazards and plans relating to people’s risks.

• People received their medicines in a safe and timely manner and were referred to health care services when their needs changed.

• Staff were trained and supported to carry out their role and were knowledgeable about good care practices and their responsibilities to protect people from harm and abuse.

• Improvement had been made in the quality assurance systems to monitor the quality of the service. However, further systems and tools needed to be implemented to ensure good quality assurance practices would be followed to avoid breaching a legal requirement in future. This would evidence that the registered manager was effectively monitoring and recording their checks and the actions they had taken when shortfalls were identified.

We have made a recommendation about demonstrating positive outcomes for people.

Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement (Last report was published on 9 January 2018). Following the last inspection, we met with the provider to confirm what they would do and by when to improve the key questions of 'Is the service safe' and 'Is the service well led' to at least good. The provider had taken action to address our concerns to ensure people received a service which was safe and well led.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating at the last inspection. We also followed up on the actions taken by the provider to meet the breach of regulations at our previous inspection.

Follow up: The rating of this inspection and the information and intelligence that we receive about the service will determine the timeframe of our next inspection.