Archived: Synergy Homecare - Rotherham

Updated 18 April 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 an adult social care inspector

Service and service type:

Synergy Homecare Rotherham is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. The majority of people supported by the service were assisted with personal care tasks.

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:

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

Inspection activity, including phone calls to staff and people using the service, started on 28 March 2019 and ended on 4 April 2019. We visited the office location on 28 March 2019 to see the registered manager and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

• We reviewed notifications we received from the service

• We reviewed information we received prior to the inspection from people using the service, their relatives and care staff.

• We sent surveys to people using the service, their relatives and care staff

• We looked at five people’s care records

• We looked at records of accidents, incidents and complaints

• We looked at audits and quality assurance reports

• We spoke with six people using the service.

• We spoke with three members of staff.

• We spoke with the registered manager and office staff.

Updated 18 April 2019

About the service:

Synergy Homecare- Rotherham is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of this inspection it was providing services to around 150 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

We found that people received a good service. The provider ensured care was delivered in a safe way, and had introduced electronic systems since the last inspection to improve the monitoring of call durations.

People told us they felt the staff were caring. They told us they got on well with staff. One described having “banter” with staff, and another described their regular care workers as being “like part of the family.”

Staff received training which was relevant to their roles. The provider had a system in place that meant if a staff member’s training expired they were not able to be assigned to undertake any care work. During the inspection we observed office staff arranging training for staff so that they remained up to date in their knowledge. People we spoke with told us they believed staff had received good training.

People were supported in maintaining good health, and staff liaised with external healthcare providers where appropriate to ensure that care was provided in a way that met people’s needs.

People were kept safe. They told us they felt safe when receiving care, and staff had received training in safeguarding and recognising the signs of abuse.

The provider had a system in place for managing complaints, although we saw they did not follow their own policy. We have made a recommendation that the provider adheres to their complaints policy so that complaints are better managed.

More information is in the full report

Rating at last inspection:

Good. The report was published in August 2016.

Why we inspected:

Scheduled inspection based on previous rating

Follow up:

Ongoing monitoring

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