About the service Amber Home Carers is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to 75 people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection 60 people using the service were receiving personal care. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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
A safe service was provided for people to use and staff to work in. People’s needs were met, and they were supported by enough appropriately recruited staff. This meant people were able to enjoy their lives and live in a safe way. Risks to people using the service and staff were assessed, monitored and updated when required. The provider reported, investigated and recorded accidents, incidents and safeguarding concerns appropriately. Medicines were safely administered. The agency met shielding and social distancing rules, used Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) safely and effectively and had an up to date infection prevention and control policy.
The provider had a culture that was honest, open, and positive with transparent leadership and management. There was a statement of purpose that clearly defined the provider’s vision and values. Staff understood and followed them and were aware of their responsibilities and accountability. They were prepared to take responsibility and report any concerns they may have. The provider regularly reviewed service quality and changes were made accordingly to improve the care and support people received. This was in a manner which best suited people. The provider established effective working partnerships that promoted the needs of people being met outside its remit to reduce social isolation. Registration requirements were met.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 1 February 2018) and there were no breaches of regulations.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
CQC has introduced focused/targeted inspections to follow up on previous breaches and to check specific concerns. We undertook a focused inspection approach to review the key questions of Safe, and Well-led.
As no concerns were identified in relation to the key questions is the service Effective, Caring and Responsive, we decided not to inspect them. Ratings from the previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service remains good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Amber Home Carers on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.