Background to this inspection
Updated
3 May 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
The inspection was prompted in part by notification of an incident following which a person using the service died. The information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risk of falls and staff response times. This inspection examined the risk and how the provider had mitigated the risk from happening again.
Inspection team:
The inspection team consisted of one inspector, one assistant 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 Expert by Experience had experience of supporting and caring for young and older people.
Service and service type:
This service is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides personal care to adults with a range of support needs, including dementia and physical disability.
There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service short notice of the inspection because we wanted to contact people in their homes and we needed support from the registered manager to arrange this.
Inspection activity started on 11 April 2019 and ended on 15 April 2019.
On the 11 April 2019 we spoke over the telephone with six people who used the service and 10 staff members.
On the 15 April 2019 we spoke over the telephone to nine people who used the service, five relatives and two personal assistants. We also visited the office location. We met with the registered manager and spoke with two support managers and one support worker. We reviewed care records, staff records and policies and procedures relating to the service.
What we did:
We used information the provider sent us in the 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.
Prior to the inspection visit we gathered information from many sources. We looked at the information received about the service from notifications sent to the Care Quality Commission by the registered manager. We also spoke with the local authority commissioners, contracts officers and safeguarding and Healthwatch (Sheffield). Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.
Updated
3 May 2019
About the service:
Sheffield City council's Care4you - City Wide Alarms service is an emergency response alarm service which covers the city of Sheffield. The office is in the Darnall area of Sheffield. The service operates twenty-four hours each day, seven days each week. Support staff respond to alarm calls and aid people in their own homes. At the time of this inspection 8,162 people were registered to receive a service from City Wide Alarms. The service does not provide any planned care, and only provides personal care where this is needed. The Care Quality commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service:
People supported by the service and their relatives consistently told us the registered manager, support managers and staff who supported them were nice, reliable, caring and professional in their approach to their work. They spoke positively about the quality of service provided. Their comments included, “They are pleasant and considerate and I couldn’t ask for more,” “I’ve used them a number of times recently and they’ve always been excellent,” “They are a god send,” and “They couldn’t have been nicer when they came. They were very kind and considerate.”
People were safe as risk management plans identified known risks and gave staff clear guidance on how to mitigate those risks. Staff had sufficient understanding of how to identify, respond to and escalate suspected abuse. Staff received on-going safeguarding training.
The registered provider had taken prompt and appropriate action to learn lessons when things went wrong. This included a review of the information kept about people who used the service and a change to the numbers and deployment of the support staff.
Staff had undertaken a good range of training, and this was refreshed regularly. Staff also received regular supervision and an annual appraisal. Staff told us they could speak with the managers at any time and they would listen to them and give advice.
People were supported by staff that encouraged their independence, treated them equally and with kindness and compassion. People told us staff were kind, caring and patient when supporting them.
People said they received effective health care with positive outcomes. They said staff at the service liaised with other healthcare professionals to ensure their health needs were met. We saw evidence of multi-agency working to meet people's health care needs. The service ensured appropriate referrals were made in cases where people needed a higher level of assistance than they could offer.
People said they were consulted with about all aspects of their care and support. They said they could raise any concerns with the management team and were confident they would be dealt with professionally and in a timely manner.
People, their relatives and staff spoke positively about the registered manager. People and staff confirmed the management structure at the service was effective. People's views were regularly sought to drive improvements.
The registered manager carried out regular audits of the service to monitor the service provision. Issues identified during the audits were acted on swiftly and lessons learnt to minimise the risk of repeat incidents.
The registered manager continued to encourage partnership working with other stakeholders and healthcare professionals.
More information is in the full report.
Rating at last inspection: Good (report published on 14 December 2016).
Why we inspected: We carried out this comprehensive inspection slightly ahead of schedule because we were notified about a serious incident in which a person using the service died. We looked at risks associated with this. Further information is in the full report
Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates.