Archived: Inspired Care Ltd

Updated 27 May 2016

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 21 and 23 December 2015 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice as it is a domiciliary service and we needed to be sure people would be available. The visit was undertaken by an adult social care inspector and an expert by experience who telephoned people using the service and their 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.

Before the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service, including the notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to send us within required timescales. We also contacted local commissioners of the service for feedback, they had no concerns.

During the visit we spoke with seven staff including the registered managers. We spoke to one person who used the service and two of their relatives via phone.

Four care records were reviewed as was the staff training programme. Other records reviewed included, safeguarding adult’s records and accidents/ incidents. We also reviewed complaints records, five staff recruitment files, four induction/supervision and training files, and staff meeting minutes. The registered manager’s quality assurance process was discussed with them as was learning from accident/incident records.

Updated 27 May 2016

This was an announced inspection which took place over two days, 21 and 23 December 2015. The last inspection took place in November 2013. The service was meeting the regulations in force at the time.

Inspired Care is a domiciliary care service that is registered for the regulated activity of personal care. The service provides care and support to people in their own homes in the Tyneside area. The care offered varied from short support visits to 24 hour care. A number of people were receiving end of life care.

There were three registered managers in post, two since 2012 and one since 2014. They had applied to reduce the number of registered managers to two. 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 people’s care was delivered safely and in a way of their choosing. People were supported in a manner that reflected their wishes and supported them to remain as independent as possible. Staff were aware of signs of potential safeguarding alerts and raised them with the service. The service had responded positively to recent whistle-blower’s raising concerns externally and internally.

People’s medicines were managed well. Staff watched for potential side effects and sought medical advice as needed when people’s conditions changed. People and their family carers were encouraged and supported to manage their own medicines if they wished to do so.

Staff felt they were well trained and encouraged to look for new ways to improve their work. Staff felt valued by senior staff and this was reflected in the way they talked about the service, the registered managers and the people they supported.

People who used the service were matched up with suitable staff to support their needs, and if people requested changes to staffing or hours these were usually facilitated quickly. People and relatives were complimentary of the service, and were included and involved by the staff and registered managers. They felt the service provided met their sometimes complex needs well.

There were high levels of contact between the staff and people, staff seeking feedback and offering support as people’s needs changed quickly. People and their relatives felt able to raise any questions or concerns with senior staff and felt these would be acted upon.

When people’s needs changed staff took action, seeking external professional help and incorporating any changes into care plans and their working practices. Staff worked to support people’s long term relationships and kept them involved in activities that mattered to them. Relatives thought that staff were open with them about issues and sought their advice and input regularly.

The registered managers were seen as reliable leaders, by both staff and people using the service. They were trusted and had created a strong sense of commitment to meeting people’s diverse needs, supporting staff and developing a better service.