Oakhaven Care Limited

Updated 14 February 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 28 December 2018 and 09 January 2019. The provider was given 24 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that staff would be available to speak with us.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and one 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.

Before this inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give us some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also checked other information we held about the service including previous inspection reports and notifications. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law.

During the inspection we spoke with 12 people receiving care and support and three family members by telephone. We spoke with the registered manager, care coordinator, team leader and four care staff. We looked at care records for four people, medicines records and recruitment records for five care staff. We looked at other records in relation to the management of the service, such as health and safety, minutes of staff meetings and quality assurance records.

Following the inspection, we gathered feedback from two health and social care professionals.

Updated 14 February 2019

Oakhaven Care Limited provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. The Care Quality Commission (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 the agency was providing a service for 17 older people with a variety of care needs, including people living with physical frailty or memory loss due to the progression of age.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

At our last inspection on 25 January 2017, we found one breach of regulation. The service was non-compliant with effective management systems to assess, monitor and improve the quality of service people received. During this inspection we found that sufficient action had been taken and they were now compliant.

We received positive feedback from people about the service. All the people who used the service and their families expressed great satisfaction and spoke highly of the care staff. A complaints procedure was in place and people knew how to make a complaint if they needed to.

People felt safe with the service provided by Oakhaven Care Limited and risks to people were minimized through appropriate risk management. There were plans in place for foreseeable emergencies.

Relevant recruitment checks were conducted before staff started working at Oakhaven Care Limited to make sure they were of good character and had the necessary skills. Staff had received training in safeguarding adults and knew how to identify, prevent and report abuse.

People were supported to take their medicines safely from suitably trained staff. Medication administration records (MAR) confirmed people had received their medicines as prescribed. Staff contacted healthcare professionals promptly when they had concerns about people’s health and wellbeing.

People felt they were treated with kindness and compassion and said their privacy and dignity was respected. Staff had an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and understood that people had the right to make their own choices.

People were supported with their nutritional needs when required. People received varied meals including a choice of fresh food and drinks. Staff were aware of people’s likes and dislikes and went out of their way to provide people with what they wanted.

Staff completed a wide range of training and felt it supported them in their job role. New staff completed an induction before being permitted to work unsupervised. Staff told us they felt supported and received regular supervision and support to discuss areas of development. Staff meetings were held regularly. There were sufficient numbers of staff to maintain the schedule of care visits to meet people’s needs.

Staff felt supported by the registered manager and could visit the office to discuss any concerns. There were systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided. Accidents and incidents were monitored, analysed and remedial actions identified to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.