Excel Care Group

Updated 25 August 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 1 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. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 31 July 2023 and ended on 11 August 2023. We visited the location’s office on 31 July 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information the provider had sent us since registering. 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 the information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 26 April 2023 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed records relating to the running of the service including staff files, care plans and audits. We spoke to 1 person who used the service and 5 relatives of people who use the service. We spoke with 2 professionals who worked with the service. We also spoke with 5 staff including the registered manager and support workers.

Updated 25 August 2023

About the service

Excel Care Group is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service mainly provides support to people with end of life care. At the time of our inspection there were 42 people using the service.

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

People and their relatives told us they felt safe when receiving care. The service had appropriate safeguarding policies in place and staff were supported to raise concerns, when necessary. Staff were recruited safely. Staff did not always record care visits. We have made a recommendation about this. Risk assessments did not always contain additional information to support staff.

Staff felt supported by the registered manager and completed a combination of online and face to face training. Staff supported people to eat and drink, staff encouraged people with their fluid intakes. Staff supported people to access healthcare.

Staff supported people with kindness. People felt supported with dignity and respect. People and their families were involved in reviews about their care. Staff supported people to express their views. We received positive feedback about the kindness and caring nature of staff.

Care plans were not always personalised with additional information about the individual. Staff had good knowledge about people as individuals and had taken the time to get to know people, and their likes, better. St aff supported people and their families with compassion at the end of their lives. There was an appropriate complaints policy in place. People felt able to discuss any concerns with the registered manager.

The registered manager completed regular audits at the service which had recently been updated. The audit did not include an action plan however this was updated during the inspection. The service worked well with other professionals. People, their relatives and staff felt supported by the registered manager and were able to express their views.

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.

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 10 October 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.

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation about the recording of care calls.

Follow up

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