Alcedo Care Liverpool

Updated 17 November 2022

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Registered manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be available to support the inspection, and consent was obtained for us to make phone calls to people during and following our inspection.

Inspection activity started on 13 October 2022 and ended 18 October 2022.

What we did before inspection

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. We reviewed information we had received about the service since it registered with us. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. We reviewed this information on 13 October 2022.

We spoke with 4 people about their experience of care by telephone. We also spoke with the registered manager and gathered information from 3 members of staff by telephone, and 3 staff by video call.

We looked at 5 people’s care records and a selection of other records including quality monitoring records, recruitment and training records for 3 staff members.

We sought clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 17 November 2022

About the service

Alcedo Care Liverpool is a domiciliary care agency providing care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 54 people with personal care. Some of the people supported had a learning disability or autism.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care:

Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. People's equality and diverse needs were consistently promoted.

Right Culture:

The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. People were supported to maintain good health, were supported with their medicines and had accessed healthcare services when needed. Where assessed, staff prepared food and drink to meet people's dietary needs and requirements.

People told us they felt safe receiving care from Alcedo Care Liverpool. Comments included, “The staff are excellent” and “I cannot fault them.” There were comprehensive risk assessments in place which were tailored to reflect each person’s assessed need and how they chose to be supported. People confirmed they received their medications and calls on time. Staff knew how to report safeguarding concerns and staff were recruited safely .

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were supported to eat, and drink where needed, and staff were trained, supervised and appraised in line with the policy of the organisation.

Staff treated people with kindness, compassion and dignity. People confirmed they were involved in choices and decisions regarding their care and support, including what staff come to their home to support them. People’s diverse needs were catered for, including what they ate, and when they went to bed and got up.

Routines were discussed with people, and they had been involved in completing their care plans. People confirmed communication from staff was good, and staff supported people to make healthcare appointments where needed. Complaints were investigated and responded to, and staff were trained in end of life care. Care plans were person centred and reflected the needs of each person.

There were audits and quality checks in place, complete with action plans. The registered manager understood their role and responsibilities and had reported all notifiable incidents to CQC.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 18 December 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.