Archived: Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Domiciliary Care

Updated 24 April 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 was 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. This was a comprehensive inspection.

This inspection took place on 13 and 19 March 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection, so that the registered manager could contact people being supported and ask if they would be willing to provide us with feedback about their support. The inspection was carried out by an adult social care inspector and an 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 expert by experience supporting this inspection had expertise in a number of areas, including the support of older people and people with dementia. The expert by experience contacted people who received support from the service or their relatives by telephone, to gain feedback about the care provided.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service, including previous inspection reports and notifications we had received from the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We contacted eight community health and social care professionals who were involved with the service for their comments, including social workers and an occupational therapist. We also contacted Healthwatch Blackburn for feedback about the service.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection we spoke with ten people who received support from the service and five relatives. We also spoke with three reablement support workers, the registered manager and we spoke briefly with the four deputy managers. We reviewed the care records of three people who received support from the service. In addition, we looked at service records including staff recruitment, supervision and training records, policies and procedures, complaints and compliments records, audits of quality and safety, fire safety and environmental health records.

Updated 24 April 2018

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Domiciliary Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older people, people with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, mental ill health, people who misuse alcohol or drugs, who have a physical disability or sensory impairment and people living with dementia. The agency provides a reablement service, which is a short term service designed to help people improve their independence while living at home, for example following a period in hospital or a change in their circumstances. Support is available for up to six weeks. At the time of our inspection the service was providing reablement support to 45 people.

At our last inspection, we rated the service Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

Records showed that staff had been recruited safely. The staff we spoke with were aware of how to safeguard adults at risk. There were safe processes and practices in place for the management and administration of medicines.

People were supported by a number of different reablement support workers due to the short term nature of the service provided. People told us they were happy with the staff who supported them.

Staff received an effective induction and appropriate training. People supported and their relatives felt that staff had the knowledge and skills to meet people’s needs.

People received appropriate support with eating, drinking and their healthcare needs. Referrals were made to community health and social care professionals when appropriate, to meet people’s needs and manage their risks.

People told us staff respected their right to privacy and dignity. They told us staff took their time when providing support and encouraged them to be as independent as possible.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way; the policies and systems at the service supported this practice. Where people lacked the capacity to make decisions about their care, the service had taken appropriate action in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

We saw evidence that people received care that reflected their needs, risks and preferences. People told us they had been involved in discussions about their care and we found that where appropriate, their relatives had been consulted.

The service had a registered manager in post. Relatives and staff told us they were happy with how the service was being managed. They found the registered manager, deputy managers and staff approachable and helpful.

The registered manager sought regular feedback from people being supported, relatives and staff about the care support provided. A high level of satisfaction had been expressed about most areas of the service. Where improvements had been suggested, we found evidence that action had been taken to address these.

Audits of many aspects of the service had been completed regularly. We found the audits completed were effective in ensuring that appropriate levels of quality and safety were maintained at the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.