10 May 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Elmes Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides care and support to adults and older people living in their own homes within the community. Not everyone using the service receives a regulated activity. 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, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection there were 23 people using the service that were in receipt of the regulated activity of personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they felt safe. People were safeguarded against the risk of abuse and harm. Risks to people's physical and mental health needs were assessed, monitored and reviewed to ensure their safety and well-being. People were supported to manage their medicines safely. Appropriate recruitment checks took place before staff started work and there were enough staff available to meet people’s care needs. Staff followed government guidance in relation to infection prevention and control. Staff had received training on Covid 19 and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Assessments of people’s care needs were carried out before they started using the service. Staff had received training and support relevant to people’s needs. Where required people received support to maintain a balanced diet. 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 support this practice.
There were systems in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received. Staff told us they received good support from the registered manager. The provider sought people’s feedback through satisfaction surveys and reviews to help improve the service. The registered manager and staff worked with health and social care professionals to plan and deliver an effective service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good report published (13 February 2020).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to safeguarding incidents and the care and welfare of people using the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe, Effective and Well-led only. We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service remains ‘Good’. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Elmes Homecare on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.