Updated 25 April 2020
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 undertaken by one Inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own apartments.
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 very small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 26 February 2020 and ended on 12 March 2020. We visited the office location on 28 February 2020 and visited the person receiving the service and a relative on 10 March 2020.
What we did before the inspection
Prior to the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service since their last inspection. This included any notifications received from the provider about deaths, accidents/incidents and safeguarding alerts which they are required to send us by law.
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.
During the inspection
We looked at the care planning for the one person receiving a service. Records relating to three staff recruitment files, incidents, accidents, complaints and the quality assurance process were checked to ensure they met the regulations.
During the inspection we spoke to one relative, three care staff, administrator and the registered manager, who were available and very helpful throughout the inspection. We were unable to speak with the one person receiving a service on the day of inspection and a further visit was arranged to enable the person to tell us about the service they receive.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at staff training data and quality assurance records. We also made arrangement to speak with the one service user, who was unavailable at the time of the inspection visit.