Altonian Care Ltd

Updated 24 July 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 inspection took place on 25 June 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection activity to ensure staff we needed to speak with were available and to enable the service to inform people the inspection was taking place and that they may be contacted. Inspection site visit activity started on 22 June 2018 and ended on 25 June 2018. We made telephone calls to people on 22 June 2018 and visited the office location on 25 June 2018 to see the registered manager and staff and to review care records and policies and procedures.

The inspection team included two adult social care inspectors 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 expert by experience had experience of caring for older people.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed the information included in the PIR along with information we held about the service, for example, statutory notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

During the inspection, we spoke with seven people and five relatives. We also visited and spoke with two people at home to observe how staff interacted with them during the provision of their care. We spoke with the registered manager, the finance and systems manager and five staff. Following the inspection we received positive written feedback from a commissioner of the service.

We reviewed records that included four people’s care plans, three staff recruitment and supervision records and records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 24 July 2018

The inspection took place on 25 June 2018 and was announced to ensure staff we needed to speak with were available. This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older people, who may be living with a diagnosis of dementia, people with a physical disability, people with a sensory impairment and younger adults. At the time of the inspection 40 people received the regulated activity of personal care.

At our last inspection we rated the service good overall, but requires improvement in the key area of safe, where we found one breach of the regulations. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the overall rating of good, the breach had been met and now the key area of safe is also judged to be good. 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.

The provider operated safe recruitment processes. People received continuity of care from regular staff. Systems were in place to monitor the capacity of the service to provide people’s care and relevant actions had been taken to ensure people received their care safely, when there was pressure on staffing capacity.

Staff had undertaken relevant training and processes were in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. Risks to people had been assessed and managed to ensure their safety. Processes were in place to ensure people received their medicines safely from trained staff. People and staff were protected from the risk of acquiring an infection. Staff understood the requirement to report any concerns to the provider. Where required, investigations were completed and improvements to the service made for people.

People’s needs had been assessed and their care was delivered in accordance with current legislation and guidelines. People were supported by staff to eat and drink sufficient for their needs and to ensure their health needs were met. Staff could provide end of life care to people as required. Staff were supported to provide effective care to people through the provider’s induction, training and supervision processes.

People 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. People received responsive and adaptable care that was tailored around them and their interests.

People were treated by staff in a caring manner and provided with the emotional support they required. People were encouraged to express their views and to be actively involved in decisions about how they wanted their care provided. People’s privacy, dignity and independence were respected and promoted by staff.

There was an open culture and clear values which underpinned the delivery of peoples’ care. There was a registered manager to run the service who understood their legal responsibilities. Processes were in place to seek and act upon people’s and staff’s feedback and to monitor the quality of the service provided. Processes were in place to enable people to make a complaint and any issues raised were investigated and addressed for people. The service worked in partnership with other organisations to ensure people received high quality care.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.