Together Care

Updated 26 May 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 checked 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 the 26 March 2018 and was announced and carried out by one inspector and an Inspection manager.

We looked at notifications received by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We also looked at safeguarding concerns reported to CQC. This is where one or more person’s health, wellbeing or human rights may not have been properly protected and they may have suffered harm, abuse or neglect.

We spoke with five people who used the service, two of their relatives, three staff, and the registered manager. We contacted people to find out more about their care as to ensure it collaborated with the records we looked at in the office. We also looked at records in relation to, staff recruitment, supervision and the systems in place for monitoring the quality of the service.

Updated 26 May 2018

This inspection took place on the 26 March 2018.

Together care limited provides care services to people within their own homes in and around the Basildon, Essex area. Care services include personal care, a sitting service and domestic services. The services provided are either through private arrangement or Clinical Commissioning Group(CCG) funding. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting eight people.

The service had a registered manager. 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Suitable arrangements were in place to ensure that people received appropriate care and support to meet their needs. Staff knew the needs of the people they supported and they were treated with respect and dignity. People’s healthcare needs were well managed and they had access to a range of healthcare professionals.

People’s needs were met by sufficient numbers of staff. Suitable arrangements were in place to ensure that staff had been recruited safely; they received opportunities for training and supervision.

People were safeguarded from harm; Staff had received training in Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005.

People were supported to have sufficient amounts to food and drink to ensure that their dietary and nutritional needs were met.

People were provided with the opportunity to participate and engage in activities of their choice which met their needs. Relatives and people who used the service knew how to make a complaint and we felt reassured that all complaints would be dealt with and resolved efficiently and in a timely manner.

The service had a number of ways of gathering people’s views which included holding meetings and reviews with people, staff and relatives. The manager carried out a number of quality monitoring audits to help ensure the service was running effectively and to help them make improvements.