- Homecare service
Amicable Care Ltd
Report from 10 October 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Amicable Care Ltd is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to adults, including people with dementia or physical disabilities. At the time of this assessment, the service supported 26 people of whom 14 received support with personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. Dates of assessment 7 November to 4 December 2024. We used an Expert by Experience to get feedback from people and relatives. 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 assessment was undertaken in response to the previous rating and breaches of regulation. The service has been rated requires improvement following this assessment. We found a continuing breach of regulation relating to good governance. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the shortfalls found at this assessment. The provider’s quality assurance systems were still not fully effective at identifying and addressing issues. For example, care records did not always contain sufficient detail about people’s individual needs, and this had not been addressed by the provider. The provider was not always effective in recording potential risks to people or how to mitigate them. There had been some improvements to medicines management, but other issues were still ongoing so further and sustained improvement was needed. Staff said they felt supported and valued by the provider. Improvements had been made to recruitment, supervision and communication processes for staff. This service has been in special measures since 18 November 2023. During this assessment the provider demonstrated that some improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in special measures.
People's experience of this service
People were unanimously positive about the consistent and reliable service they received from caring staff. People and their relatives described staff as kind, cheerful and helpful. People said their dignity was respected and independence was promoted.