Archived: Palmerstone Homecare

Updated 13 November 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 team was made up of two inspectors 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. The expert for this inspection had personal experience of caring for an older person living with dementia.

Service and service type: Palmerstone Homecare Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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:

This was an announced inspection as we needed to obtain consent from people to be contacted by our expert by experience. We also had to be sure someone would be at the office when we visited.

What we did:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, a quality assurance manager and seven members of care staff. We contacted seven people and two relatives by telephone to ask for their feedback. We looked at six people’s care records including their medication records and daily notes. We looked at three staff files. We reviewed training and supervision records and documents relating to the management of the service including complaints and compliments, minutes of meetings and quality audits. We also contacted professionals that had experience of the service.

Updated 13 November 2019

About the service: Palmerstone Homecare limited is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection 64 people were using the service.

People's experience of using this service

People received a safe service. Staff knew how to keep people safe and were knowledgeable of safeguarding procedures. Risks to people's safety were identified, assessed and appropriate action was taken to keep people safe. When people were at risk staff had access to assessments and understood the actions needed to minimise avoidable harm. There were always enough staff deployed to meet people's needs. Staff underwent relevant pre-employment checks that assured they were suitable to care for people made vulnerable by circumstances in their own homes. Medicines were administered and managed safely by trained and competent staff. The registered manager carried out audits of Medicine Administration Records (MAR).

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff were trained and supported to ensure they delivered effective care and support to people. This helped to ensure people received consistent and informed care, which they had agreed to.

Staff were respectful and caring towards people. Staff understood the importance of promoting equality and diversity. Staff knew how to communicate with people, which helped develop positive relationships with them.

People's care plans were personalised, and people were involved in decisions made about their care and support. People knew how to make a complaint about the service. Staff felt supported by the registered manager and other senior staff.

At our previous inspection we required further assurance that the service was sustaining all the improvements they had made. At this inspection we found that quality assurance systems were working more effectively. The registered manager was committed to developing and making continual improvements to the service.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 03 May 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.