Home Instead

Updated 15 May 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

• This inspection was completed by an adult social care inspector and an expert by experience whom was experienced in caring for people with learning disabilities, older people and people living with dementia. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

• Home Instead Senior Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

• 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 visit because we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be available to facilitate the inspection.

• We began the inspection with telephone calls to people using the service on 4 February 2019. We visited the office on 6 and 7 February 2019, to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records, policies and procedures.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection:

• We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

• We looked at information we held about the service including notifications they had made to us about important events.

• We also reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders for example the local authority and members of the public.

• We reviewed information provided by completed CQC surveys from people who used the service.

During the inspection:

• We spoke to 14 people using service and three relatives; the registered manager, operational manager and six members of care staff.

• We reviewed four people’s case records.

• We reviewed records relating to the management of the service including: accidents, incidents and complaints; audits and quality assurance reports; the service development plan; policies and procedures; recruitment, training and supervision records of care workers.

Updated 15 May 2019

About the service:

• Home Instead Senior Care is a domiciliary care service based in Norwich, providing care in Norwich and the surrounding areas, primarily to older people.

• At the time of the inspection, the service was providing personal care to 56 people living in their own homes and there were 61 staff.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People were protected from abuse, neglect and discrimination. Staff ensured people's safety and acted when necessary to prevent any harm.

• Individual risks to people were assessed and managed to keep people safe.

• Medicines systems were organised and people were receiving their medicines when they should.

• The service was very person centred and assessed people's needs and individual preferences.

• The service was very reliable and developed caring relationships with people using the service.

• The service operates a minimum one-hour care call length, 14 days’ notice to cancel calls and standardised call times which they believed contribute to greater staff retention and thereby improved relationships and care giving to people using the service; however, some people told us this reduced flexibility in the service provided.

• Staff told us that the training they attended was good and gave them the skills and knowledge they needed to support people.

• Health care professionals such as district nurses, the GP and occupational therapists had been involved in people's care.

• 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.

• The service was going through a positive management restructure and was well led and managed.

• People and staff were overall positive about the management of the service changes, although people receiving care needed more information on the new management team.

• The views of people and staff were actively sought by managers to develop and improve the service for the future.

• The service was committed to empowering the local community to grow old well and had links with the local community to enhance the lives of people using the service.

Rating at last inspection:

• At our last inspection, published in July 2016, the service was rated “Good”.

Why we inspected:

• This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received, based on their rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

• We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people received safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk