Essential Care Support

Updated 10 August 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. The inspectors visited the office location on 23 and 30 June 2022. The Expert by Experience made telephone calls to people and their relatives on 27 June 2022. 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. CQC does not regulate premises used for domiciliary care; this inspection looked at people's personal care and support.

Registered manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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. At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. The provider was overseeing the running of the service. A new manager had been recruited; but had not begun their role as registered manager at the time of our inspection visit. The new manager had applied for registration with CQC.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to the inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We asked the registered manager for the information contained in the PIR during the inspection visit. We used all this information to plan and conduct our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and received feedback from nine people's relatives. We spoke with, or received email feedback from, six members of staff including senior care workers, the HR and care co-ordinator, the quality assurance manager and the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people's care records and medication records. We reviewed three staff member's recruitment records to establish safe recruitment procedures were being followed. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 10 August 2022

About the service

Essential Care Support is a community-based care provider that provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection there were 42 people including younger adults, older people living with dementia, people living with a physical disability or sensory impairment, in receipt of the regulated activity of personal care.

Everyone who received support at the time of our inspection 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 risk-based care, staff used risk assessments and risk management tools that mitigated risks to people. Recruitment processes helped to ensure staff were recruited safely. There were sufficient staff to support people safely with their scheduled care calls. Staff had received training in safeguarding and knew the actions to take to keep people safe. Overall, people's medicines were managed safely. The provider had infection control policies and procedures in place to guide staff on how to reduce the risk of infections.

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 the assessment of people’s mental capacity to determine how and when best interests decisions were made. Staff received induction and training in their role. The service worked with health and social care professionals to improve outcomes for people.

There was not a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection visit. The management team worked together to implement audits and governance systems to identify areas of improvement. Staff spoke positively about leaders at the service.

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 August 2018). At this inspection this rating has remained the same.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions of Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements. The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has remained as good.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Essential Care Support on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.