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.