All inspections: Care at Home Service, Allendale Road

Care at Home Service, Allendale Road provides personal care to adults in their own homes who need support to help them live independently. It provides reablement services, usually for up to six weeks, to people who have been discharged from hospital or whose needs have changed. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 225 people and had moved into new premises. The provider had made the necessary applications to the Care Quality Commission to make changes to their registration.

The service was last inspected in January 2016 when we had followed up on a breach of legal requirements relating to medicines management. Prior to this we had carried out a comprehensive inspection in February 2015 and rated the service as ‘Good’. At this inspection in July 2017 the service remained ‘Good’ and met each of the fundamental standards we inspected.

We found people’s care was appropriately planned to reduce risks to their personal safety and welfare. Steps were taken to safeguard people from harm and abuse.

Improvements in the support given to people with their prescribed medicines had been sustained. Good, co-ordinated arrangements were in place to assist people in meeting their health and nutritional needs.

There was sufficient staffing capacity and people had allocated teams of care staff for consistency. Staff received the necessary training and support to effectively meet the diverse needs of the people they cared for.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Information about the service was provided and people were fully involved in decisions about their care. People and their families spoke highly about the care provided and the supportive relationships they had developed with staff. They felt staff were caring in their approach, respected privacy and dignity and supported people to live independently as possible.

Care services were provided flexibly and adjusted as people’s needs changed. Each person had individualised care plans with the goals they wished to achieve and their care was reviewed at regular intervals. Staff were mindful of preventing social isolation and supported people to access the community and resume their routines.

The service routinely sought feedback about people’s care experiences. A high number of compliments had been received and any complaints made were taken seriously and properly investigated. Professionals valued the service and the positive outcomes for people.

The management promoted an open, inclusive culture and worked in partnership with other services to ensure people’s safety and well-being. There was a good governance structure that provided leadership and active monitoring of the quality and performance of the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 5 and 9 February 2015. A breach of legal requirements was found. After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to the management of medicines.

We undertook this focused inspection on 5 January 2016 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to these requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the 'all reports' link for Care at Home Service, Allendale Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Care at Home Service, Allendale Road provides personal care to adults in their own homes who need support to help them live independently. It provides reablement services, usually for up to six weeks, for people who have been discharged from hospital or whose needs have changed.

The service had 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.

We found the provider had met the assurances they had given in their action plan and were no longer in breach of the regulations.

Improvements had been made to ensure care plans were in place which described the support people needed with their medicines. Accurate records were now kept of the directions and administration of medicines. Action had been taken to improve the auditing system to check that people’s medicines were being handled safely.

The inspection took place on 5 and 9 February 2015 and was announced. We last inspected Care at Home Service, Allendale Road in November 2013. At that inspection we found the service was meeting all the regulations we inspected.

Care at Home Service, Allendale Road provides personal care to adults in their own homes who need support to help them live independently. It provides reablement services, usually for up to six weeks, to people who have been discharged from hospital or whose needs have changed. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting over 200 people.

The service had 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.

We found that care was safely planned to reduce risks and protect people’s welfare. Staff were trained in and understood their roles in safeguarding people to prevent them from being harmed or abused.

New staff had been appropriately checked to ensure they were suitable to work with people who may be vulnerable. There were enough staff employed to provide an effective and co-ordinated service that met people’s needs and gave them continuity of care.

People were supported with their prescribed medicines. Records of medicines were not always accurate and some people did not have care plans to describe the extent of support they required. This meant the provider had not ensured the proper and safe management of people’s medicines. This was a breach of Regulation 13 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 which corresponds to Regulation 12 of the revised Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

Staff were given a good level of training and support that enabled them to understand and meet people’s care and support needs. People were consulted about and agreed to the care they received. Formal processes were followed, where appropriate, to assess mental capacity and make decisions in people’s best interests to ensure their rights were upheld.

People were supported to access health care professionals, including the service’s own team of therapists. People who needed support with their diet were helped to prepare meals and drinks and, where necessary, dietetic advice was obtained. Some staff had been trained to assist people who needed specialist feeding techniques and further training was planned.

People and their families were involved in deciding how their care was planned so they could be supported in the ways they preferred. Individualised care plans were in place and each person had their care regularly reviewed during the time they used the service.

Most people who had used the service and their relatives gave us positive feedback about their care and support. They told us their care workers were kind and caring and had helped them to live as independently as possible. A relative told us the service had been “Excellent in every way”. Any complaints received about the service were dealt with promptly and fully investigated.

Quality assurance systems were operated to ensure people received good quality care and to take action on any improvements needed. The registered manager provided good leadership and was proactive in monitoring performance and developing the service. Staff and community professionals told us they felt that the service was well managed.

We found that people's care was well planned to meet their needs and support them to become as independent as possible in daily living. People and relatives who had experience of the service spoke highly of the care provided. They told us, 'She gets the same workers and they're fantastic with her'; 'I really cannot fault the care'; and, 'The girls were lovely and knew what they were doing".

The service had appropriate arrangements in place to make sure people were supported to take their prescribed medicines safely.

Staffing was properly co-ordinated to provide people with reliable and consistent care from experienced and skilled workers.

There were effective systems for checking the quality of the service. These included getting people's views about their care and the services they received on a regular basis.

People who used the service told us their privacy and dignity were respected. They also said their views and experiences were taken into account in the way the service was provided and delivered. The relative of a person using the service said, 'Can't praise my wife's carers enough. They look after her very well. They always ask her before they do anything. They check my wife is alright with how they have cared for her.'

People experienced care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights. The people we spoke with said they received good care and support delivered by kind and reassuring staff. One person using the service said, 'The care is great. I would rate them really highly. The staff are kind and caring.'

People who used the service were protected from the risk of abuse, because the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening.

People were cared for by staff who were supported to deliver care and treatment safely and to an appropriate standard.

There was an effective complaints system available. Comments and complaints people made were responded to appropriately.

Archived: Care at Home Service, Allendale Road

All Inspections

18 July 2017

During a routine inspection

5 January 2016

During an inspection looking at part of the service

5 & 9 February 2015

During a routine inspection

13 November 2013

During a routine inspection

7 December 2012

During a routine inspection