White Star Care Ltd

Updated 2 May 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.

Notice of inspection and inspection team:

• This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

• We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be available on the day of inspection.

Service and service type:

• This service is a home care agency. They provide care and support to people living in their own houses and flats.

• This service provides personal care to older people who may be living with dementia and have a physical disability.

• Some people supported by White Star Care Ltd did not receive a regulated activity from the service. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’, which includes help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of inspection, five adults were receiving support with personal care from this service.

• 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.

What we did:

• Before the inspection, we looked at information we held about the service, including notifications they had made to us about important events. We asked the service to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). 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.

• Before the inspection, we contacted two people for their feedback about the care being provided for them. We also spoke with three staff members working for the service.

• We visited the agency office on 2 April 2019 and spoke with the registered manager and the deputy manager. We reviewed three people’s care records, two staff files, training and medicine records, quality assurance reports and other relevant documents relating to the service.

• After our inspection, we received feedback from one healthcare professional.

Updated 2 May 2019

About the service: White Star Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency and registered for ‘personal care’. This service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. At the time of this inspection five people were using the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

• The provider did not have robust systems in place to monitor the quality of the services provided for people, including accuracy of care records. We made a recommendation about this.

• Risks to people's health and safety were identified but required additional information on how the risks impacted on people.

• People had care plans in place that included information on how they wanted to be supported but more information was required to guide staff on the assistance people required to take their medicines safely.

• The service planned to make changes as to how they trained staff to ensure they were provided with the Mental Capacity Act (2005) training and enough time to understand the covered topics.

• Staff received on-going support and the registered manager planned to review staff’s developmental needs.

• Staff followed the provider’s procedures to support people if they noticed them being at risk of harm or when incidents and accidents took place.

• Staff undertook appropriate checks before they were employed by the service.

• People told us that staff arrived for their shifts on time and that they had regular staff members to support them.

• People had the necessary support to manage their medicines safely.

• Staff supported people to prepare their meals and attend to their health needs where they required such assistance.

• People were treated with dignity, kindness and had their views listened to.

• Staff encouraged people to be as independent as possible and to make choices about their daily activities.

• People provided feedback about the services they received.

• People felt that the management team responded to their care needs well.

• Staff were involved in making decisions about the service delivery.

• Appropriate systems were used to communicate and share information quickly as necessary.

Rating at last inspection:

• The service was previously inspected on 31 July 2018. We were unable to rate the service as there was not enough evidence available to support our judgement.

Why we inspected:

• This was the first inspection of the service after they changed the name from Visiting Angels Limited - DCA Office to White Star Care Ltd.

• This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Follow up:

• We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspection will be planned in line with our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect the service sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk