Archived: Quality Assured Care Services

Updated 30 January 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.

We reviewed information received about the service, for example the statutory notifications the service had sent us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law. Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This 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. We found the PIR reflected the service provided.

The office visit took place on 6 January 2016 and was announced. We told the provider we would be coming so they could ensure they would be available to speak with us and arrange for us to speak with care workers. The inspection was conducted by one inspector.

Before the office visit we spoke with six people by telephone, (one person who used the service and five relatives).

During our visit we spoke with two care workers, the registered manager and the provider. We refer to the provider and registered manager as ‘the managers’ in the report. We reviewed two people’s care plans to see how their care and support was planned and delivered. We checked whether staff had been recruited safely and were trained to deliver the care and support people required. We looked at other records related to people’s care and how the service operated including the service’s quality assurance audits.

Updated 30 January 2016

Quality Assured Care Services is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care support to people in their own homes. At the time of our visit the agency supported nine people with personal care and employed four care workers.

We visited the offices of Quality Assured Care Services on 6 January 2016. We told the provider before the visit we were coming so they could arrange for staff to be available to talk with us about the service.

The service has a registered manager. 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.

People felt safe using the service and care workers understood how to protect people from abuse and keep people safe. There were procedures to manage identified risks with people’s care and for managing people’s medicines safely. Care workers were properly checked during recruitment to make sure they were suitable to work with people who used the service.

The provider and registered manager understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), and care workers respected people’s decisions and gained people’s consent before they provided personal care.

There were enough care workers to deliver the care and support people required. People had consistent care workers who stayed long enough to complete the care people required. People told us care workers were friendly and caring and had the right skills to provide the care and support they required. Care workers received an induction when they started working for the service and completed training to support them in meeting people’s needs effectively.

Care plans contained relevant information for staff to help them provide the personalised care people required. People knew how to complain and information about making a complaint was available for people. Care workers said they could raise any concerns or issues with the managers, knowing they would be listened to and acted on.

There were processes to monitor the quality of the service provided and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through regular communication with people and staff, returned surveys, spot checks on care workers and a programme of other checks and audits.