This announced inspection took place over two days the 29 April and 4 May 2016. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice of the visit because the location provides support and personal care to people living in their own homes. We wanted to make sure someone was at the premises when we visited and we needed to request for arrangments to be made to speak with people who used the service. Spinal Homecare Services Limited provides two types of home care. One is specialised support provided on a live in basis for adults with spinal cord injury and other physical disabilities throughout the UK. The other is a domiciliary care and domestic support service mainly covering the rural areas of the Lune Valley.
During our previous inspection visit in February 2014 we found the service met all six of the essential standards we looked at. Since then there had been no incidents or concerns raised that have needed investigation.
There was a registered manager in post on the day of our inspection visit. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. In this service the registered manager is also the registered provider.
We found that people who used this service were safe. The staff knew how to protect people from harm. Staff had completed training in the safety of vulnerable adults and knew the signs to look for and how to report any incidents of concern.
We saw that recruitment procedures were robust this ensured only suitable people worked in the service. We saw that staffing levels according to the rotas were good throughout all areas of the service. Staff training was up to date. We saw that staff were supported by the management team through regular staff supervision and appraisals.
We found that the service worked very well with a variety of external agencies such as social services, occupational therapists, other care providers and mental health professionals to provide appropriate care and support to meet people’s physical and emotional needs.
People received support mainly from a regular team of staff who they knew well and who understood the care and support they required. We saw that people were treated with kindness, dignity and respect and they made positive comments about the staff who visited their homes.
Support was given in a manner to people to promote their independence for example supporting them to join in with activities in the community.
The service followed the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of practice. This helped to protect the rights of people who were not able to make important decisions themselves. Best interest meetings were held to assist people who were not always able to make difficult decisions for themselves and where relevant independent advocacy was arranged.
We found that some records relating to the management of peoples medications were not always accurate.
We recommended that the provider ensured the records relating to the administration of people’s medications were accurate and reflected their current needs.