Background to this inspection
Updated
24 January 2020
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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
One inspector undertook this inspection.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats, this included live in care. Not everyone who used the service received 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.
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
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 03 December and ended on 5 December 2019. We visited the office location on 3 and 4 December 2019.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since its’ registration. We reviewed notifications received from the service before the inspection. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing any potential areas of concern. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with two people who used the service about their experience of the care provided and reviewed feedback the service had received from people and their relatives. We spoke with five members of staff including the nominated individual, the registered manager, the operations manager and the office staff. We also spoke with five care workers. We reviewed written feedback from three visiting healthcare professionals.
We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We saw the training records in relation to all care staff. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
Updated
24 January 2020
About the service
Ascot Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in Horsham and the surrounding villages. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 40 people.
Not everyone who used the service received 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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Following our last inspection there have been management changes at Ascot Care. One of the registered managers left in May 2019 and a new nominated individual started in June 2019. This had led to a complete change of the office structure with more defined job roles.
There were quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. Requirements made at the previous inspection had been met. Incidents and accidents were recorded so that they could be considered and reflected upon to make improvements to the service. The service worked collaboratively with healthcare professionals. Feedback from visiting healthcare professionals was positive and included, ”I would recommend Ascot Care to other individuals looking for specialist SCI [spinal cord injury] care in their catchment.”
People told us they felt safe. Staff understood their responsibilities about keeping people safe. Staff were recruited safely, with appropriate checks carried out when their employment commenced. There were enough staff to care for people safely, with staff and people using the service telling us current staffing arrangements were sufficient.
Staff had completed training in key areas to carry out their roles. They told us they had a good working relationship with each other and the management team. They were aware of their roles and responsibilities. Staff told us they were happy with the level of training, support and supervision available to support them in their roles.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection (and update)
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 14 December 2018) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
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.