This report was created as part of a pilot which looked at new and innovative ways of fulfilling The Care Quality Commission's (CQC) regulatory obligations and responding to risk in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was conducted with the consent of the provider. Unless the report says otherwise, we obtained the information in it without visiting the Provider.About the service
Warrington Borough Council Intermediate Care at Home is a domiciliary care service provided by the Local Authority. The service is managed from premises in Irwell Road, Warrington and provides intermediate, and rehabilitative personal care across the Warrington Borough Council area. At the time of the inspection, the provider was supporting 85 people.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People received person-centred care that was tailored around their support needs and areas of risk. Packages of care were regularly reviewed, and levels of risk were routinely assessed, reviewed and monitored.
People told us they felt safe receiving care from the provider. People were protected from avoidable harm, staff received safeguarding training and knew how to escalate any concerns that presented. Safeguarding incidents were reported and regular reviews and trend analysis took place.
Safe recruitment processes were in place; candidates were appropriately selected and the necessary recruitment checks were carried out. Staffing levels were routinely monitored and people received care and support by staff who were familiar with their support needs.
Medication processes and systems were safely implemented. Staff were appropriately trained to administer medication and routinely had their competency levels checked. Medication audits helped to monitor and review medication compliance; areas of improvement were quickly responded to and managed.
Governance systems helped to monitor the quality and safety of care people received. The registered manager ensured that all areas of care were monitored and assessed, this helped to ensure regulatory compliance but also helped to identify where improvements were needed.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was ‘Good’ (published 12 December 2017) insert date last report published in brackets.
Why we inspected
This was a planned pilot virtual inspection. The report was created as part of a pilot which looked at new and innovative ways of fulfilling CQC’s regulatory obligations and responding to risk in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was conducted with the consent of the provider. Unless the report says otherwise, we obtained the information in it without visiting the provider.
The pilot inspection considered the key questions of safe and well-led and provide a rating for those key questions. Only parts of the effective, caring and responsive key questions were considered, and therefore the ratings for these key questions are those awarded at the last inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Warrington Borough Council Intermediate Care at Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.