CareOLine Carers Service

CareOLine Carers Service is a domiciliary care agency which provides support to people in their own home. 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. At the time of our inspection there was one person receiving personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Care was planned with the person and their relatives' input. Staff knew the person well and understood the support the person needed to stay safe and healthy. Staff liaised effectively with external health and social care professionals as well as the person's relative. This helped the person to receive individually tailored care which met their needs.

Staff were caring and friendly; they had built a good rapport with the person. Staff provided care and support in a way which maintained the person's independence, privacy and dignity. The person was treated with respect and involved in making decisions about their care.

The person was given the information they needed about their care in a way they could understand. The person had regular opportunities to give their views on what they did and did not like about the way their care and support was provided.

The person received a sufficient amount to eat and drink, and their meals reflected their food preferences. The person was supported to spend their time involved in enjoyable, age appropriate activities.

There were systems in place to make sure there was always enough staff working at the service to help keep the person safe and meet their needs. The person was protected from the risk of abuse and felt safe.

Appropriate checks were carried out on staff before they began to work with the person. The person was supported by staff who received relevant training, supervision and performance review which helped staff to provide effective and appropriate support.

The registered manager and staff understood the responsibilities of their role. There were systems in place to obtain the person’s views and receive and investigate complaints. There were appropriate systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of care the person received.

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 service was not rated at the last inspection because the service had only recently begun supporting one person and we were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to make a judgement. The last inspection report was published in September 2018. At this inspection the service was rated good.

Why we inspected

We inspected CareOLine Carers Service on 25 June 2019. This was a planned inspection based on our re-inspection programme.

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.

CareOLine Carers Service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’, that is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do this, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

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. The registered manager was not able to be present for this inspection. However, records maintained by them indicated they had a good understanding of their legal responsibilities.

At the time of this inspection, one person had recently started using the service. The person received the support that had been planned and agreed with them. The person’s choices for how this was provided were respected and staff delivered support in line with the person’s wishes. Staff had access to current information about the level of support the person required along with guidance on how to keep the person safe from identified risks. Staff encouraged the person to carry out tasks to help them develop independent living skills and to eat and drink enough to meet their needs.

Staff worked closely with external health professionals involved in the person’s care and shared information about the person in a timely way. They reported any concerns about the person so that appropriate support could be obtained from the relevant healthcare services. The person had capacity to consent to specific decisions about their care and support needs. Staff were due to receive formal training in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 so that they would have a clear understanding of their responsibilities under this Act.

Staff received training to safeguard people from abuse. They also received training specific to their role to help them to meet people’s needs. Staff followed good practice to ensure risks were minimised from poor hygiene and cleanliness when providing personal care and when preparing and handling food.

The provider had clearly stated values and aims for the service, focussed on people experiencing good quality care and support. They had put systems in place that would enable them to monitor and review the quality of service and to deal with any complaints made by people. The provider worked in partnership with other agencies to develop and improve the delivery of care to people. Records relating to the person, staff and to the management of the service were accurate and up to date.

As the service had only recently begun supporting one person, we were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to rate the service at this time.