Updated 25 September 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 completed two inspectors, a pharmacist 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
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 manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. However, the manager was in the process of submitting their application to be registered.
Notice of inspection
We gave the registered manager 1 weeks’ notice of the inspection visit to ensure the manager and senior staff were available to speak to us. We visited the office location on 14 August 2019. Inspection activity started on 14 August 2019 and ended on 22 August 2019.
What we did before inspection
We sought feedback from the local authority. 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 spoke with five people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including the manager, the operations manager, the two service directors and one member of care staff.
We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and six people’s medicines administration records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, the provider’s complaints and compliments file, team meeting minutes, the staff roster system and the provider’s business continuity plan.
After the inspection
We reviewed further evidence sent to us by the provider. This included the provider’s medicines administration and medicines collection policies, spot checks, supervisions and competency assessments for staff in relation to medicines and the provider’s policies on infection control and safeguarding. We contacted six members of care staff. We received responses from four members of care staff. We also contacted three social care professionals. We did not receive any responses.