Background to this inspection
Updated
7 January 2022
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 team consisted of one inspector.
Service and service type
1 Oak Homecare Bury St Edmunds is a domiciliary care service and is registered to provide personal care to older people and people with physical care needs.
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 visit because this is a small agency and we needed to be sure that they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started on 29 November 2021 when we visited the office location to speak with the registered manager and to review care records and procedures. We also spoke with people’s relatives by telephone and interviewed staff.
What we did:
Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We contacted the Local Authority who commissioned care packages.
We spoke with four relatives three staff and the registered manager.
We reviewed the care records of three people. We also looked at records relating to the overall quality and safety management of the service, care plans, three staff recruitment files and staff training records.
Updated
7 January 2022
About the service: 1 Oak Homecare Bury St Edmunds is a domiciliary care service and is registered to provide personal care to older people and people with physical care needs in their own home. At the time of our inspection the agency was supporting 13 people with personal care.
People received care that was person centred and caring. Relatives told us that they would recommend the service and their loved ones were supported by a consistent team of staff who knew them well and went the extra mile to meet their needs.
Staff were provided with guidance about how risks to people’s wellbeing should be managed and the steps that they needed to take to keep people safe. When there were changes in people’s wellbeing these were escalated promptly to health professionals and the agency maintained good communication with relatives.
Staff suitability was checked prior to their employment. Staff received training, support and supervision. Staff performance was monitored to ensure that they were working to the standards required.
People were supported to eat and drink in line with their care plan and nutritional needs.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control over their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Care plans were in place and the provider was in the process of transferring information to a new electronic format. While this was presenting some challenges, the registered manager was working through these in a systematic way.
There was a complaints policy in place. Relatives told us that while they had no concerns, they would be very comfortable raising issues and were confident they would be resolved.
Staff told us that the management were caring, and supportive. Staff morale was good.
The registered manager was committed to providing a good quality service and developing the service in line with best practice. They understood the importance of quality monitoring and how to use this to drive improvements. There were clear systems in place to audit the quality of care delivered to people. Staff and people using the service were invited to give feedback on their experiences.
Why we inspected:
This service was registered with us on 14 May 2020 and this is the first inspection.
Follow up: We will continue to monitor all intelligence received about the service to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk