Clark Care Services

Updated 9 January 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 and 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 30 November 2017 and was announced. We told the provider three days before our visit that we would be coming. We did this because the provider’s office is based at the provider’s residential address. We needed to be sure that they would be in. The inspection was carried out by one inspector. 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.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and the service provider. The registered provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.

On the day of the inspection, after we visited the provider’s office we met with two people who used the service and two relatives. The provider made prior arrangements before our visit as we needed to obtain people’s consent to visit them in their own homes. In addition we spoke with one care worker and the provider. We looked at two people’s care records and three staff files that included their recruitment, supervision and training records. We also viewed a range of records about how the service was managed. After the inspection we contacted another relative and three external professionals and commissioners to obtain their views about the service.

Updated 9 January 2018

We inspected Clark Care Services on 30 November 2017. The service is registered to provide personal care in people’s own homes. At the time of our visit three people received personal care. The agency also supported five more people with other services that did not involve personal care such as a companionship visit or housekeeping.

The registered provider had been registered as an individual therefore there was no requirement for a registered manager to be appointed. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered provider acted as a manager and was responsible for the day to day running of the service.

People were safe and there were sufficient staff to meet people's needs. Staff understood how to protect people and how to alert relevant authorities if they had any concerns. Risk assessments were carried out and staff aware how to manage these risks. People received their medicines as prescribed.

Staff received sufficient training to carry out their roles and they were well supported by the provider. The provider had systems in place to ensure staff recruited were safe and suitable to work with people.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the systems in the service supported this practice. People were supported to meet their nutritional needs and access health services as required.

The staff supported people in a caring way. Staff protected people's privacy and dignity and treated them with respect. People had developed positive relationships with staff and were supported to be as independent as possible.

The service was responsive to people's needs and ensured people were supported in a way that met their needs. People’s relatives knew how to make a complaint and we saw when concerns had been raised, they had been dealt with in line with the provider’s policy.

The service was well run and the manager was passionate about caring for people and they had a clear vision of the service they wanted to provide. We found provider’s governance framework needed improving to reflect current best practice so the quality performance was effectively monitored to ensure sustainability was maintained.