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Herts Homecare

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

123 Lawn Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP3 9HS (01442) 213289

Provided and run by:
ZTW Healthcare Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

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.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 28 June 2019

About the service: Herts Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care for people living in their own homes. They support 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. At the time of our inspection there were 10 people receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

The registered manager was passionate and led by example. They followed best practice and pursued opportunities to improve care and people’s experiences to achieve better outcomes. There was an open, honest, caring and positive culture across the service and staff demonstrated they had great values. This was clearly led from the top. The registered manager was also supported by an exceptionally motivated and dedicated service manager.

People were supported with a regular staff team to provider consistency. Staff received training which was adapted to their learning style to meet the needs of people they supported.

The staff team were passionate about providing high-quality person-centred care and had passion for keeping people independent in their own homes.

People received care which met their support needs and was developed by placing people at the centre of the support.

People felt safe with the support they were given. Systems and processes were in place for staff to follow to safeguard people from the risk of harm.

People received support from health professionals and staff worked collaboratively with outside agencies.

People’s care was person centred and the service responded proactively to their changing needs.

People were positive about the management of the service and feedback from people was used to improve the service given.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good. (the last inspection report published 13 August 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk