Active Care & Support Ltd

Updated 15 October 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) 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 Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and two Experts by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Active Care & Support Ltd is a 'domiciliary care service' where people receive care and support in their own homes. Therefore, the CQC only regulates the care provided to people and not the premises they live in. The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 23 August 2019 and ended on 28 August 2019 We visited the office location on 23 August 2019.

What we did

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information and evidence we already held about this service, which had been collected via our ongoing monitoring of care services. This included notifications sent to us by the service. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to us without delay. We also viewed the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

We spoke with eleven relatives and four people who used the service. We spoke with the registered manager and four care workers. We reviewed four care records of people using the service, seven personnel files of care workers, audits and other records about the management of the service. We requested additional evidence to be sent to us after our inspection. This was received, and the information was used as part of our inspection.

Updated 15 October 2019

About the service

Active Care & Support Ltd is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were 90 people using the service. Everyone using the service lived within the London Borough of Brent and had their service commissioned by the local authority.

People's experience of using this service

People said they felt safe using the service. There were effective systems to minimise risks and there was information to guide care workers when delivering support to people, including how to reduce identified risks.

There were systems in place to ensure proper and safe use of medicines. People received their medication safely. People were also protected from the risks associated with poor infection control.

Care workers had been recruited safely. There were sufficient care workers deployed to keep people safe. An electronic scheduling, monitoring system was in place to manage staff shifts and absences.

People's needs were assessed, before support plans and risk assessments were drawn up. Agreed goals of care were delivered in line with standards, guidance and the law. People received support that met their individual needs. Care workers were knowledgeable about people’s needs. They could describe to us how people liked to be supported.

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.

People's privacy and dignity was respected. People told us that care workers treated them with respect and kindness. People felt that care workers treated them fairly, regardless of age, gender or disability. Practical provisions had been made to support people’s diversity, including gender preferences.

People were supported, if needed, to express their views and preferences in relation to their care and support. The service identified and recorded how people wished to communicate and their communication needs.

There was a complaints procedure, which people and their relatives were aware of.

There were methods of monitoring the quality of the service in place. Regular checks and audits had been carried out.

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 03 May 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a routine comprehensive inspection and in line with our timescales to inspecting Requires Improvement rated services.

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.