Updated 22 May 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection was carried out by one inspector and 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. At the time of the inspection, the services provided personal care to adults living in their own homes. The CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.
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:
Our inspection was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice as we needed to be sure someone would be available to support us with the inspection.
What we did:
• Before the inspection, we reviewed relevant information that we had about the service including any notifications of safeguarding or incidents affecting the safety and wellbeing of people. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We checked the last inspection report and contact the local authority for information.
• The service completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what it does well and any improvements they plan to make.
• During the inspection, we spoke with six people, six relatives, the registered manager, operations manager, office manager, care coordinator and five care staff.
• We reviewed documents and records that related to people’s care and the management of the service. We reviewed five people’s care plans, which included risk assessments, and five staff files, which included pre-employment checks.
• We looked at other documents such as medicine, training and quality assurance records.