Archived: Synergy Homecare - St Helens

Updated 14 September 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, 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 27 July 2018 and was announced.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

We visited the office location on 27 July 2018 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We also made phone calls to people who used the service to get their views on the care provided.

The inspection team consisted of an adult social care inspector and an expert by experience with experience of using domiciliary care services.

Before our inspection visit, we reviewed the information we held about Synergy Homecare. This included looking at the notifications we had received from the provider about any incidents that may have impacted on the health, safety and welfare of people who used the service. We also looked at the Provider Information Return (PIR) we received from the provider prior to our inspection. This form asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and what improvements they plan to make. We used our planning tool to help us plan the inspection and decide how we were going to conduct the inspection.

We spoke to nine people who used the service and their relatives. We spoke with five staff, including the registered manager and provider. We looked at the care plans belonging to three people and other related records. We checked the recruitment files for three staff. We also looked at other documentation associated with the running of the service.

Updated 14 September 2018

This inspection took place on 27 July 2018 and was announced

At the time of our inspection the service was providing packages of care to 29 people and employed 14 staff.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community [and specialist housing]. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults.

This was the registered providers first inspection at this location.

Synergy Homecare St Helens, is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes.

There was a registered manager in post.

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

Staff were able to describe the process they would follow to report actual or potential abuse, this mostly consisted of reporting the abuse to the line manager. The service had a safeguarding policy in place, which we viewed and staff we spoke with told us they were aware of the policy. Safeguarding training took place as part of the induction for new staff and was refreshed every year.

Staff recruitment records showed that staff were safely recruited after a series of checks were undertaken on their character and work history.

Risk assessments were in place and were reviewed regularly or when people's needs changed. Risk assessments contained details of how to support the person appropriately, while mitigating risk. They were instructive and clear.

Staff were supplied with personal protective equipment (PPE). This included gloves, aprons and hand sanitizer. Staff we spoke with told us they were always able to ask for more PPE when needed. Staff had completed infection control and prevention training, and understood the importance of reporting outbreaks of flu and vomiting to the manager, so they could cover their work so as not to spread the infection.

People were supported with their medication in accordance with their assessed needs and in line with recent guidance.

The registered manager and the staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated legislation.

People were supported as part of their assessed care needs with eating and drinking and staff were aware of people’s preferences.

Staff undertook training in accordance with the providers training policy. Staff told us they enjoyed the training. Staff spoken with confirmed they had regular supervision and appraisal.

Additional role specific training took place to help people manage their support needs. This training was overseen by a registered nurse who assessed staff competency once they had attended the training.

Staff supported people to access other healthcare professionals such as GP’s and District Nurses if they felt unwell.

People told us that the carers who visited were all very caring and would always ask them how they are feeling and ask them what they would like help with.

People we spoke with were complimentary about the caring nature of the staff and we received positive comments about the registered provider in general.

People told us that they were always kept informed and involved in their care.

We did not observe care being delivered, however, people told us staff were kind and caring in their approach.

Care plans contained detailed information about people, what their preferences were and how they liked their care to be conducted. Information in care plans was regularly reviewed and updated in line with people’s needs. This meant that the registered provider was responsive to people’s needs and preferences.

Complaints were investigated in line with the complaints procedure and responded to appropriately.

Audits took place which checked service provision and action plans were implemented to improve practice.

Feedback was gathered from people using the service and people told us they felt that the registered manager had responded to their comments. Feedback was conducted every few months over the telephone, and annual audits were due to be completed.

Team meetings took place, and we viewed minutes of these.