Updated 17 February 2022
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
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. 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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection because we acknowledge impacts of the current COVID-19 pandemic on working arrangements in offices. We wanted to ensure there could be safe arrangements made for us to visit the office in person. We asked for information to be emailed to us where possible to minimise our time in the office.
What we did before the inspection
We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with the registered manager and three members of staff in the office, including the Operations Manager. We reviewed a range of records including five staff recruitment and support files and six people’s care plans. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We looked at records we had been sent by email and continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found. We looked at meeting records, training data and quality assurance records.
We spoke with people and relatives who had experience of the service, we spoke with six care staff. We had email contact with four health and social care professionals who had regular contact with the service.