Somcare Agency Limited

Updated 7 April 2021

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

The inspection was conducted by one inspector. Telephone calls to people using the service and their relatives were conducted by an Expert by Experience. 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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 initially gave the provider 24 hours' notice of our inspection which was due to take place on 16 March 2021. However, office staff were told to isolate because they were unwell, and we had to postpone our site visit. We did not arrange a new date with them. We gave the provider another 24 hours' notice before the revised site visit date.

This was because we wanted to make sure the registered manager or their representatives would be available for us to meet.

Inspection activity started on 15 March 2021 (when we made phone calls to people using the service) and ended on 23 March 2021. We visited the office location on 23 March 2021.

What we did before inspection

We looked at all the information we held about the provider, including the last inspection report. We contacted people using the service and their relatives by telephone. We spoke with six people who used the service and the relatives of 15 other people. We contacted the local authority commissioners and social workers who the provider had named as key contacts. We received feedback from four external professionals.

During the inspection

We met the registered manager, other senior staff on duty and external consultants who provided the agency with support. We looked at the care records for five people who used the service. We also looked at staff training, recruitment and support records for five members of staff, medicines records, records of complaints, safeguarding investigations and quality monitoring. We received feedback from 20 care workers.

After the inspection

We continued to review information.

Updated 7 April 2021

About the service

Somcare Agency Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, 130 people were using the service. The majority of people were older adults.

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

People received personalised care which met their needs and reflected their preferences. They were offered choices about how they wished to be cared for. The agency provided care workers who spoke people's preferred languages. People had been consulted about their care plans and gave regular feedback. Plans had been reviewed and updated when people's needs changed.

The provider offered a reablement service for people leaving hospital and following operations or accidents. This was a time limited package of care designed to support people to relearn skills and increase independence. Feedback about this aspect of the service was positive, with people pleased to be given the opportunities to gain independence whilst feeling supported and safe.

People received their medicines in a safe way and as prescribed. The staff had training to make sure they understood how to safely manage medicines. Use of medicines and other risks, such as those associated with people's health conditions, eating and drinking, falls and moving safely around their homes, had been assessed, monitored and planned for.

The agency worked closely with other health and social care professionals to make sure people's needs were regularly reviewed and they received the right care and support.

There were enough staff to keep people safe and meet their needs. They arrived on time for care visits and were not rushed. The provider had systems to help make sure only suitable staff were recruited, and they trained and supported staff to make sure they knew how to care for people.

The registered manager knew the service well. They worked closely with external consultants to operate effective systems and processes to monitor and improve the quality of the service. They asked stakeholders for feedback. They investigated and responded to adverse events, such as complaints and they kept clear, accurate and up to date records.

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 (published 14 December 2019)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating. We were also alerted to a number of concerns which we had received over the last year. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led.

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 the concerns we had received. Please see the safe, responsive and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Somcare Agency Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.