Updated 11 May 2019
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.
Inspection team: One assistant inspector supported the inspection on day one by making telephone calls to people who receive the service and staff. One inspector and an assistant inspector visited the domiciliary care service on day two of the inspection.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older people.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Registered manager’s and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. At the time of inspection, the manager had applied to the commission to be registered.
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.
Inspection site visit activity started on 1 May 2019 and ended on 2 May 2019. It included telephone calls to people using the service. We visited the office location on 1 May 2019 to meet with the registered provider, manager and office staff and to review care records, policies and procedures.
What we did:
Before the inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the registered provider must let us know about, such as abuse; and we sought feedback from the local authority and other professionals involved with the service. We assessed the information that registered providers 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. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During our inspection visit, we spoke with 13 people using the service, and six staff including the registered provider, manager, care co-ordinator, recruitment and training manager and care staff. We observed the support provided throughout the service. We looked at records in relation to people who used the service including three care plans and three medication records. We looked at records relating to recruitment, training and systems for monitoring quality.