Updated 29 April 2020
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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by one inspector, one assistant inspector and one expert 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. The experts by experience did not attend the office of the service or visit people at home. They spoke by telephone with people and relatives of people who used the service on 14 February 2020 and 17 February 2020.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
The service had two managers 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 one weeks' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to obtain contact details and consent to contact people using the service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We sought feedback from the local authority. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We reviewed a range of records, which included the care records for six people. We checked that the care they received matched the information in their records. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service, including quality checks and staff files. We also looked at three staff recruitment files.
We spoke with the nominated individual, director of HR, both registered managers, two senior care workers and two care workers when we visited the office on 25 February 2020. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.
We spoke with six people who used the service and 10 relatives about their experience of the care provided, by telephone on 13, 14 and 17 February 2020.