Background to this inspection
Updated
17 March 2023
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
This inspection was carried out by one inspector and one 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 homes.
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
This inspection was unannounced.
Inspection activity started on 9 February 2023 and ended on 3 March 2023.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We reviewed a range of records. This included 7 people’s care records, 9 staff files, and a variety of records relating to the management of the service.
This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as calls to enable us to engage with people using the service, their relatives, and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.
We talked with 10 relatives and 1 person using the service about their experience of care with the service. We spoke with the registered manager, a case manager, a senior care worker, a call handler, and 7 care workers.
Updated
17 March 2023
About the service
Care at Home Group Warrington is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to people in the community. The service provides support to older people, people who misuse drugs and/or alcohol, people with physical disabilities, sensory impairments, dementia, and younger adults. At the time of our inspection there were 92 people using the service.
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. All people using the service at the time of inspection received personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were supported with effective and responsive care in a well-led service. There were some people who were not always happy with the times of their care, however they were happy with the care workers supporting them.
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 using the service were supported with access to other health professionals to ensure any emerging health needs were responded to quickly.
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 requires improvement (published 21 May 2021). That inspection was to follow up breaches of regulations in relation to staffing, good governance, and safe care and treatment. At that inspection we found the provider was no longer in breach of those regulations. There was also a breach of Regulation 11 (Need for consent) which was not inspected at that time from the inspection of 16 December 2020. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of Regulation 11.
Why we inspected
At our last inspection the rating for the service remained requires improvement. We carried out this inspection to check if the service had improved. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions of effective, responsive, and well-led which contain those requirements.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Care at Home Group Warrington 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.
This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and phone calls to engage with people using the service, relatives, and staff as part of this performance review and assessment.