Archived: Care at Home Amersham

Updated 27 July 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 was 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 14 June 2017. It was an announced inspection. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming. We did this because the registered manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We needed to be sure that someone would be available. This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

We spoke with seven people, three by visiting them in their supported living complex, three relatives, two care staff, the care co-ordinator, senior care worker and the registered manager. We looked at four care records, two staff files and medicine administration records. We also looked at a range of records relating to the management of the service. The methods we used to gather information included pathway tracking, which captures the experiences of a sample of people by following a person’s care route through the service and obtaining their views about their care.

We reviewed any notifications we had received about the service. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about in law.

We asked the local authority and their safeguarding team to provide us with feedback about the service.

Updated 27 July 2017

We undertook an announced inspection of Care at Home Amersham on 14 June 2017.

Care at Home Amersham provides a range of services to assist people in their own homes. Support ranged from day to day assistance and the provision of personal care for people. On the day of our inspection 30 people used the service. Three of these lived at the supported living complex known as Mansil House in Amersham. The remaining 27 lived in the community.

There was 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.

People and relatives told us they felt people were safe. Staff knew how to keep people safe, for example, managing individual risks and understood their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding people.

People’s comments on the service were positive. One person told us “The service is very good, I get what I want, and everything is perfect”.

Staff had received regular training to make sure they had the right knowledge and experience to look after people. The service had systems in place to notify the appropriate authorities where concerns were identified. People received their medicine as prescribed, but we found one person’s medicine record was not up-to-date.

People benefitted from caring relationships with the staff. People and their relatives were involved in their care. Relatives told us people’s dignity was promoted.

Where risks to people had been identified, risk assessments were in place and action had been taken to manage these risks. Staff sought people’s consent and involved them in their care where ever possible.

There were sufficient staff deployed to meet people’s needs. The service had safe recruitment procedures and conducted background checks to ensure staff were suitable for their role.

People were mainly independent with their nutrition needs, but those who required assistance, people told us their needs were met.

People and relatives told us they were confident they would be listened to and action would be taken if they raised a concern.

Although reviews on people’s care files were done by senior care staff, these reviews were not recorded. The registered manager did not have a system in place to ensure care requirements in place for people were accurate and up-to-date.

Staff spoke positively about the support they received from the registered manager and senior staff. Staff supervision and other meetings were scheduled as were annual appraisals. Staff told us the registered manager and senior care staff were approachable and there was a good level of communication within the service. We saw staff meetings took place to provide good communication with staff. One staff member commented “They are a very fair company to work for”.

People and their relatives told us the service was friendly, responsive and well-managed. People and relatives knew the care team and staff and spoke positively about them. Comments from staff included “They cannot do anything better. They always involve clients in events and family members in training, for example dementia” and “I am very proud of the service we are never rushed, clients are the most important thing and I believe we support people better than other services do”.

The service sought people’s views and opinions and acted on them. People told us they had the opportunity to provide feedback on the service provided.

The service had mainly achieved compliance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated practices.