Archived: Thurrock

Updated 17 December 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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.

The inspection was announced and took place on the 26,27 October and 2,10 November 2016. The provider was given notice of our inspection because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be present. The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included notifications, which are documents submitted to us to advise of events that have happened in the service and the provider is required to tell us about. We also reviewed a Provider Information Return (PIR). A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. This was very well completed and we used this information to plan what we were going to focus on during our inspection.

During our inspection we called and spoke with 18 people who use the service and also four relatives. When visiting the service we spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager and also other office staff. We interviewed seven care workers to gain their views about working for the service.

As part of the inspection we reviewed a range of records about people’s care and how the domiciliary care agency was managed. This included eight people’s care records, care plan folders and risk assessments. We also looked at the files of six staff members and their induction and staff support records. We reviewed a sample of the service’s policies, their audits, staff work rotas, complaint and compliment records and documentation for medication.

Updated 17 December 2016

This inspection was announced and took place over a number of days and included 26, 28, 31 October and 2, 10 November 2016.

Thurrock is a care agency that is registered to provide personal care to people within their own homes. The service is based in Grays in Essex and covers the surrounding areas.

The service has a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

The service work very well to ensure that people were supported in the community to undertake activities of interest to them which enhanced their health and wellbeing. The service actively engaged with the local community to enrich people’s lives and people spoke highly of the support they received. The service offered a ‘coffee morning’ service to people who used the service, this enabled people to meet others, socialise and build relationships. The service is also involved in a new local authority scheme, which enables people to connect with the community in hobbies and pastimes that they enjoy.

People were confident that when they raised any concerns these would be dealt with promptly and effectively. They felt the service was very responsive to them at all times. The service had a clear complaints procedure in place and people had been provided with this information as part of their assessment. We saw that complaints had been appropriately investigated and recorded.

People had assessments completed before they started with the service; care plans were developed around each individual needs and preferences. People had agreed to their care and their views on how this would be provided had been respected. People said they were treated with dignity and respect and that staff provided their care in a kind and caring manner. People were supported by staff to maintain good health and where needed, they would assist them to gain access or contact healthcare providers.

The registered manager promoted a person centred, open and honest culture. Staff were happy to work for the service and were supported to carry out their roles.

Staff showed a good knowledge of safeguarding procedures and were clear about the actions they would take to help protect people. Risk assessments had been completed to help staff to support people with everyday risks and help to keep them safe. These had been regularly reviewed to ensure both staff and people who received a service were kept safe. Systems were in place to assist people with the management of their medication and help ensure people received their medication as prescribed and they received the support they needed. People were given nutritional support when required.

There were safe recruitment procedures to help ensure that people received their support from staff of suitable character. Recruitment checks had been carried out before staff started work to ensure that they were suitable to work in a care setting. There were sufficient staff available, with the right competencies, skills and experience to help meet the needs of the people who used the service. Staff told us that they felt well supported to carry out their work and had received regular supervision and training.

There were systems to assure quality and identify any potential improvements to the service. This meant people benefited from an improving service. The service had an effective quality assurance system and had regular contact with people who used the service. People felt listened to and that their views and opinions had been sought.