Doves Healthcare Ltd

Updated 18 February 2020

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 28 January and ended on 30 January 2020. We visited the office location on 30 January 2020. Prior to this on 28 January 2020 we contacted people, relatives and staff by telephone to gather their views.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since they had registered with us. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three staff including the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. These included care and medicine records for three people. We looked at one staff file in relation to recruitment and staff supervision and a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. This included information on staff recruitment checks.

Updated 18 February 2020

About the service

Doves Healthcare Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to seven people at the time of the inspection. The office is based in Guildford, and all the people they support live in the local area.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were positive about the care and support they received from Doves Healthcare. They told us they felt safe, and that staff had the skills and experience needed to give them the care they needed. They described staff as being caring and that their privacy and dignity were respected.

People were supported to keep safe in their homes because risks to their health were assessed and guidelines were put in place to minimise them coming to harm. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities with regards to keeping people safe from abuse.

The registered manager made sure that appropriate checks were carried out on prospective staff to ensure they were safe and suitable to work with people who used Doves Healthcare Ltd.

People told us their care calls were rarely late, and they had never had a call missed. Staff spent the allotted time with people and made sure their needs were met before they left. For most care calls people had the same staff visit them, with this only changing due to sickness or to cover holidays.

People’s needs were assessed before they used the service which ensured that these needs were known by staff and that people’s equality and diversity was understood and respected. Where required, people were supported to eat and drink, with any special dietary needs being understood by staff. When the need arose for example, due to a change in health, people were supported to access healthcare services.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People had care plans which gave staff guidance on the care and support that they wanted. People confirmed that staff gave them the care and support as detailed in these plans. People knew how to complain and were confident their complaints would be addressed.

People were positive about the management of the service. They told us they felt the agency was well run and that the registered manager listened to what they said. The service had quality assurance systems in place, which were used to good effect and to continuously improve on the quality of the care provided.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

At the last inspection this service was rated requires improvement (report published 05 February 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

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