Affinity Homecare

Updated 24 March 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This comprehensive inspection took place on 14 February 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 5 working days’ notice of the inspection site visit so that we could organise to speak with and visit people who used the service. It was completed by one 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. The inspection site visit activity started on 9 February 2018 when the expert by experience called people on the telephone for their feedback. They spoke with 7 people who used the service and 4 relatives. It ended on 14 February 2018 when the inspector visited 3 people in their homes. Some of those people were able to give verbal feedback and we also observed the interaction between staff and the people they supported. On this date we also visited the office location to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

The provider completed a Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used this and information we received from the provider through statutory notifications to plan the inspection visit.

We spoke with the registered manager, one care manager, one senior care staff and one care staff. We reviewed care plans for four people to check that they were accurate and up to date. We also looked at the systems the provider had in place to ensure the quality of the service was continuously monitored and reviewed to drive improvement. We reviewed audits and quality checks for medicines management, reviews of calls, meeting minutes and health and safety checks. We also looked at three staff recruitment files.

Updated 24 March 2018

Affinity Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults and younger adults with a disability.

At our last inspection we rated the service good, with requires improvement rating in well led. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and it was good in all domains. There was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

The provider had improved their quality audits to ensure that all care plans and risk assessments were up to date in people’s homes. Other quality systems were effective in highlighting improvements and also monitored that people received their calls on time and for the allocated time.

People continued to receive safe care. There were enough staff to meet their needs and they were recruited to ensure that they were safe to work with people. People were protected from the risk of harm and received their prescribed medicines safely. Lessons were learnt from when things went wrong.

The care that people received continued to be effective. They were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff received training and support to be able to care for people well. They monitored people’s health; including in partnership with other organisations when needed. Some people were also supported to eat and drink and this was monitored and recorded.

People continued to have positive relationships with the staff who were caring and treated people with respect and kindness. Staff knew them well and understood how to care for them in a personalised way. There were plans in place which detailed people’s care and goals and these were regularly reviewed. People knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint and the provider had implemented effective systems to manage any complaints that they received.

People and their relatives were included in developing the service and found the registered manager approachable.

Further information is in the detailed findings below