Updated 23 October 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. 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 carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type:
Initial Care Services South East Limited is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care and support for people in their own homes. The agency provided personal care and support for four people who are living in the community.
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. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did:
We reviewed information we had received about the service since registration. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse or when a person dies. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We contacted healthcare professionals for feedback. We received feedback from two social workers. We took this information into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection
During the inspection, we spoke with two people who used the service, three care workers and the provider who was also the registered manager. The registered manager also carried out direct support in people’s homes whenever there was need to do so.
We reviewed a range of records. This included three people's care records, risk assessments, daily records and medicine records. We also looked at two staff files including their recruitment, supervision and training records. We reviewed records relating to the management of the service, quality assurance records and a variety of policies and procedures implemented by the provider. We also looked at other records the provider kept, such as staff meetings minutes and surveys they completed to share their views.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We received the training data, reviewed risk assessments and care guidelines sent to us in a timely manner.