Archived: Radis Community Care (Leeds)

Updated 24 January 2018

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.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is a small domiciliary care agency and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector who visited the premises and two experts by experience who made telephone calls to people who used the service and their relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

At the time of our inspection there were 107 people who used the service. We spoke with 17 people who used the service by telephone, and conducted a home visit where we spoke with one person who used the service. We spoke with five members of staff, the branch manager and the regional director. During the inspection we reviewed ten care plans, including medicine administration records and activity diaries, and looked at other documents relevant to people’s care including staff personnel files, quality audits and meeting minutes.

Before the inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service including notifications and previous inspection reports.

Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and any improvements they plan to make.

Updated 24 January 2018

This was an announced inspection carried out on 21 and 22 November 2017. At our last inspection on 2 August 2016, we found that the service was ‘requires improvement’. At this inspection we found the service had made the required improvements and was no longer in breach of regulation, however we have made a recommendation about medicines management.

Radis Community Care (Leeds) is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to people living in their own homes and provides support to people to help them maintain their independence.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Although we concluded that medicines were managed well overall, PRN or ‘as required’ medicines were not managed in line with national guidance and the service’s own medicines policy.

We have made a recommendation around the management of some medicines.

There were enough staff to complete visits and meet people’s needs. Staff were recruited in a safe way, with appropriate background checks carried out. People told us they were satisfied that staff were able to make visits in a timely way. For example, we saw that 100% of planned visits were made and 88% of these were made within an acceptable time frame in November 2017.

Risks to people were assessed and mitigated appropriately. People told us they felt safe in the care of staff.

Staff were given an effective induction into the service and were well supported with frequent spot checks and competency assessments.

Staff were given an appropriate level of training and staff skills and knowledge was monitored and maintained through re-training.

People were supported to maintain their health by staff who provided encouragement to ensure they were eating and drinking enough.

People told us they were cared for by kind and compassionate staff who knew how to protect and promote their dignity and privacy.

Care plans were written in a person centred way and reviews of people’s support were carried out with them to make sure they were continuing to meet people’s needs effectively. People knew how to make a complaint and there was an effective complaints process in place.

Staff told us they were confident in the leadership of the service and that the registered manager was approachable and transparent.

The service monitored the quality of the service people received and the manager had good support from the provider to ensure continuous improvement of the service.

The service asked people’s opinions and feedback through surveys and quality calls to ensure they had a role in the continuous improvement of the service. Where issues were identified, they were acted upon by the registered manager.