Phoenix Care At Home Limited

Updated 6 October 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an 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 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 a short period notice of the inspection because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 29 June 2022 and ended on 12 July 2022, when we visited the location’s 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 information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 18 May 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with six members of staff including both directors, one of whom was the registered manager, and four care staff. We spoke with three people receiving support and four relatives over the telephone. We also received feedback from two health professionals who worked closely with the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six peoples care records and multiple medication administration records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including training records and policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 6 October 2022

About the service

Phoenix Care At Home Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides support to people with a range of health conditions. At the time of the inspection, the service supported 18 people.

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

People received exceptionally compassionate care from committed and caring staff. People achieved better outcomes as a result of the care they received. The management team worked hard to instil a culture of care in which staff valued and promoted people’s individuality, protected their rights and enabled them to flourish. People and relatives spoke highly of the service provided by Phoenix Care At Home Limited (hereafter referred to as Phoenix).They all told us how staff went ‘above and beyond’ telling us how their support had been life changing and describing the care staff as ‘family’. The provider focussed on reducing the risk of social isolation and loneliness amongst the people they cared for. Comments included, “I was withdrawn and had stopped going out. The benefits to me are I have started going to a coffee morning. It allows me time in my garden. If I have a carer I can go into the garden. I go to a friend around the corner. I have such a good relationship, bless them” and, “They make my life worth living, they are very good.”

Staff were motivated to provide the best care they could for people, in line with their preferences and wishes. They told us, “When I meet a new client, I ask them how they like things done. I say, "I’m sorry if I’m asking a lot of questions. I want to get it right.” They were passionate about their role, and the people they supported. The management team gave us examples of small acts of kindness undertaken by staff, which made a real difference to people's well-being, for example putting up Christmas decorations and cooking Christmas dinner for people who lived alone; and arranging the funeral for a person who had no relatives, with carers contributing to the eulogy. Staff had taken their hand-held computer to a person’s house so they could facetime their family in Australia.

The support provided was responsive and flexible, and staff responded to requests for additional support outside of people’s commissioned care. One person told us, “I have called them out in the middle of the night…they are there. They always say if you need me call me.” The service had fund raised to purchase and maintain a wheelchair accessible vehicle for the use of people and their relatives, and equipment to help people up following a fall so they would not have to wait a long time if the ambulance was delayed.

People were supported by a small, consistent team of staff who knew them very well and the support they needed. This meant they could recognise if something was wrong, or there was deterioration in physical or mental health, and needed additional or specialist support. There were no missed visits, and staff always stayed for the commissioned time or longer. They had the time to spend talking with people, going for a walk, or carrying out additional tasks.

People were valued as partners and experts in the running and development of the service. One person had designed the satisfaction survey used to gather people’s views, and another contributed to practical staff training in manual handling, taking part and devising questions to ask staff.

People told us they felt safe with their care workers. Staff understood the risks to people’s safety and wellbeing, and what they should do to minimise them. They knew how to identify and raise concerns about safety and were confident action would be taken to protect people. People were supported with medicines 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.

There were effective measures in place to protect people from the spread of infection, with government guidelines followed related to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), staff testing and vaccination. During the pandemic the staff team minimised their own contacts with others to avoid bringing Covid 19 to the people they were supporting and took on work from private cleaners and hairdressers to reduce the number of professionals coming into people’s houses and the risk of exposure.

Systems were in place to ensure the right staff were recruited. People were supported by staff who

were inducted into the service with relevant training. This was refreshed regularly to ensure knowledge and skills remained up to date. The provider worked with other healthcare professionals for the benefit of people using the service. A health professional told us; “They use their initiative and go above and beyond in everything they do. They are very competent.”

People, relatives, staff and health professionals spoke highly of the management of the service. The management team were ‘hands on’ delivering care alongside the staff team. This meant they knew people and staff well. Staff told us, “The leadership is amazing. I couldn’t praise them more.”

There were systems in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service. This included ensuring regular feedback from people using the service and their relatives, and making any changes or improvements required.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was outstanding (published 03 July 2019)

Why we inspected

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

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Phoenix Care At Home Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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