Background to this inspection
Updated
12 July 2019
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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.
The service did not have a registered manager at the time of the inspection. The registered manager had recently left working for the agency and the provider was in the process of applying to take over this role. A person that is registered with the Care Quality Commission is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave a short period notice of the inspection because the service is still small and office staff also deliver care to people. We needed to arrange a suitable time for us to visit the office and obtain up to date details of the people receiving a service.
Inspection activity started on 30 April 2019 and ended on 10 June 2019. We visited the office location on 9th May & 22nd May 2019.
What we did before inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since they registered with us. 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We visited three people who used the service and spoke with a further three people on the phone about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including the provider.
We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and three staff files in relation to recruitment, training and staff supervision. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records and attempted to gather feedback from other professionals involved with the service.
Updated
12 July 2019
About the service
Home Instead Godalming is a domiciliary care agency that provides support to people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service 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. There were 12 people receiving the regulated activity of personal care at the time of our inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Home Instead Godalming is a new agency that focuses on providing personal support through companionship. Feedback was positive about the service people received. People felt valued and told us that their care met their needs and enabled them to continue to live their lives as they wished.
There were good systems in place to keep people safe. Risks had been assessed and action taken to safeguard people from the risk of abuse or avoidable harm.
Enough staff were employed to meet the needs of the people who received personal support. People were supported by a regular and reliable team of staff who knew them well. Staff were kind and compassionate in their approach and supported people to retain their independence and live full and meaningful lives.
The provider took appropriate steps to ensure staff were suitably vetted prior to appointment. Specialist and mandatory training were ongoing to ensure staff had the skills and experience to support people effectively.
Each person was assessed prior to the commencement of care, from which a personalised plan of care was devised. A new electronic care and monitoring system provided real time oversight of the care being delivered.
The management team worked proactively with other healthcare professionals to ensure a holistic approach to care. There were systems in place to keep people healthy, hydrated and ensure medicines were administered as prescribed.
The provider was proactive and committed to delivering high quality support and had a clear strategy for expanding the business, without compromising on quality.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 07/05/2018 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection as part of our routine schedule of inspections.
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.