Updated 28 June 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.
Inspection team:
One adult social care inspector carried out the inspection.
Service and service type:
Herts Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care for people living in their own homes. They provide a service to younger adults, older people, people living with dementia, people who may have physical disabilities, people with mental health and/or people with a learning disability living in their own homes.
On the day of the inspection 21 people were using the service. Not everyone using Herts Homecare received a regulated activity. On the day of our visit 10 people received the regulated activity. CQC only inspect the service being received by people provided with personal care, help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This meant that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small, and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
What we did:
Before our inspection we reviewed information about the service including statutory notifications that had been submitted. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us. We had not requested a provider information return (PIR) to be submitted at this time. This document details how they meet the regulations, identify any key achievements and any plans for improvement.
The inspection site visit activity started on 18th April 2019 and ended on 2nd May 2019.
We visited the office location on the 18th April 2019 to meet the registered manager and office staff.
We spoke with staff and people using the service by telephone on 23rd April 2019 and 2nd May 2019.
We looked at two people’s care files which included all aspects of care and associated risks to their health and wellbeing.
We looked at two staff files including all aspects of recruitment, supervisions, and training records. We also reviewed records relating to the management of the service including records of accident, incidents, complaints, audits, surveys and minutes of staff and professionals’ meetings.
We spoke with three people who used the service, one relative and two staff members to gather their views about the service provided.