Background to this inspection
Updated
3 June 2020
The inspection:
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.
Inspection team:
The inspection team consisted of two inspector’s.
Service and service type:
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults and younger adults with physical disabilities.
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:
The inspection was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service. We wanted to be sure that someone would be in to speak with us.
What we did:
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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as incidents and abuse. We used this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection:
We reviewed a range of records. This included four staff recruitment files, training records, records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures and quality assurance processes developed and implemented by the provider. We reviewed four people’s care records. We spoke with five members of staff, including the registered manager, the deputy manager, a care co-ordinator, and care staff. We met with the registered manager in the office, and observed them working in the office, dealing with issues and speaking with people over the telephone. During our inspection we spoke with five people and three relatives over the telephone.
Updated
3 June 2020
About the service:
Home Instead Senior Care Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks & Edenbridge is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. On the day of the inspection, the service was supporting 11 people with a range of health and social care needs, such as a physical disability, sensory impairment or people living with dementia. Support was tailored according to people’s assessed needs within the context of people’s individual preferences and lifestyles to help people to live and maintain independent lives and remain in their homes. Not everyone using Home Instead Senior Care Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks & Edenbridge receives the regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service:
People using the service were consistent in their view that the service was unique in its delivery of care and delivered outstanding care. Typical comments included, “They are a great company and a great help to me” and “They are so much better than any company we have used before, by a million miles”.
We found areas of outstanding practice in the effectiveness of the care provided by Home Instead Senior Care Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks & Edenbridge. The provider had developed innovative and effective systems that promoted people’s health, improved their independence and enabled them to live in their own home for as long as possible. People and staff universally had their equality, diversity and culture celebrated, and their rights promoted and respected. The service was inclusive, educational and empowering.
Outstanding, person centred and innovative training resources equipped staff with the skills, knowledge and understanding to meet the challenges of supporting people with diverse and complex needs. Bespoke training had been developed to ensure that people remained safe and had their health and wellbeing protected at all times. This increased the overall skills of the staff team which complemented the delivery of high quality care. There was a culture of embracing learning and development within the service. People and their relatives felt confident in the skills of the staff and they received effective care that met their needs.
The registered manager and dedicated and enthusiastic staff demonstrated an exceptional commitment to enabling people to live well with dementia. People received outstandingly high-quality care that met and exceeded their needs, and improved their wellbeing, independence and happiness. Staff treated people with respect, dignity and compassion. They were motivated, passionate and proud of their jobs and people had a regular team of care workers and felt they had become part of the extended family. People and their relatives felt respected, valued and listened to.
The service had built an outstanding model of care and support provided to people. People told us they thought the service was well managed and they received high quality care that met their needs and improved their wellbeing from dedicated and enthusiastic staff. One person told us, “It’s a fantastic service, I literally have no complaints”. Innovative and practical technology was used to enhance peoples care, but also to entertain and teach people and staff new skills and increase their knowledge.
Sufficient staff were available to ensure people's wellbeing and safety was protected. A robust recruitment and selection process was also in place. 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.
The provider had systems of quality assurance to measure and monitor the standard of the service and drive improvement. These systems also supported people to stay safe by assessing and mitigating risks, ensuring that people were cared for in a person-centred way and that the provider learned from any mistakes.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection: Outstanding (report published 30 March 2017).
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up: We will continue to monitor the intelligence we receive about this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated Outstanding.