Archived: Allied Healthcare Peterborough

Updated 3 March 2017

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.

This inspection took place on 30 January 2017 and was announced. The inspection was announced so that we could be sure that the registered manager and staff would be available during our inspection. The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Before this inspection we looked at information that we held about the service including information received and notifications. Notifications are information on important events that happen in the home that the provider is required to notify us about by law. We also received feedback about the service from representatives of a local authority commissioning team; this helped with our inspection planning.

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, operations support manager, lead nurse/clinical services, and a field care supervisor. We also spoke with four support workers, 10 people and three relatives of people who use the service. We looked at seven people’s care records; four staff recruitment files; staff meeting minutes; quality monitoring documents and their corresponding action plans; medication administration records; and records in relation to the management of staff.

Updated 3 March 2017

Allied Healthcare Peterborough is registered for, and provides, personal care and treatment, disease, disorder and injury for people living in their own homes and children in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. There were 117 people being supported with the regulated activity of personal care at the time of this inspection.

This announced inspection took place on 30 January 2017.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 registered manager told us that no one using the service lacked the capacity to make day-to-day or important decisions. Staff received training and staff understood the basic principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). This meant that there was a reduced risk that any decisions made on people's behalf by staff would not be in their best interest and as least restrictive as possible.

People were supported by staff in a kind, caring and respectful manner. People’s privacy and dignity was respected by staff when assisting them with their personal care.

People had support and care plans in situ which provided staff with prompts that they needed when providing support and care to people. These plans contained information such as how people wished to be assisted, their likes and dislikes and what was important to them. People and/or their relatives were involved in the setting up, agreement and review of their/ their family member’s plans of care.

Arrangements were in place to make sure that people, where needed, were supported safely with the management of their prescribed medicines by staff. There were guidelines in place for staff regarding the administration of ‘as required’ or ‘time sensitive’ medicines.

Plans were put in place to minimise and manage people’s identified risks and to assist people to live an independent life as possible and remain in their own homes.

Staff meetings took place and staff were encouraged to raise any concerns or suggestions that they may have had and provide feedback on any improvements to be made. Staff understood their responsibility to report any suspicions of harm or poor care practice.

Pre-employment recruitment checks were undertaken before new staff were employed. Documented evidence showed that there was a sufficient number of staff available to support people with the care that they required.

People were assisted to maintain their health and well-being and were supported to access external health care professionals where needed. Where this support was required, people’s health and nutritional needs were met.

Staff were trained to provide effective care which met people’s individual support and care needs.

Staff were supported by the registered manager to develop their skills and knowledge through supervisions, spot checks, and observation checks to review their competency and training.

The registered manager sought feedback about the quality of the service. They had in place quality monitoring checks to identify areas of improvement needed. These checks and corresponding actions were in place to identify and drive forward improvements required.

There was an ‘open’ culture within the service. People and their relatives were able to raise any concerns that they might have with staff and the registered manager. Records showed that these were responded to and resolved, where possible, to the complainants’ satisfaction.

Notifications are information on important events that happen at the service that the provider is required to notify us about by law. Notifications were sent to the CQC by the registered manager in a timely manner.