Background to this inspection
Updated
1 February 2020
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
This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and treatment, disease, disorder and injury support to adults and children living in their own houses and flats.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 8 January 2020 and ended on 13 January 2020. We visited the office location on the 9 and 13 January 2020.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority who work with the service. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with five people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the regional director, registered manager, head of complex care, clinical lead nurse, and three support workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider. This was to validate evidence found around notifications being submitted for all incidents the registered manager is legally obliged to notify the CQC about.
Updated
1 February 2020
About the service
Allied Health-Services Peterborough is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide people support with personal care and treatment, disease, disorder and injury. At the time of this inspection the service supported 37 adults and children living in their own homes in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The registered manager had notified the CQC of most incidents they were legally obliged to notify us of. However, we found one notification had not been submitted and one notification had not been submitted in a timely manner.
We have made recommendations for the registered manager to make sure there is a robust process in place to ensure that all incidents that are notifiable are sent to the CQC in a timely manner.
Trained staff knew their duty of care to follow the systems in place to monitor and manage people’s risks and to try to keep people safe from poor care and avoidable harm. Staff used their training and personal protective equipment such as disposable gloves to help prevent the spread of infections. Trained staff managed and administered people’s prescribed medicines safely. Field supervision competency checks reviewed staff’s competency to manage this support task safely. When errors or poor practice had been identified, staff were spoken with or placed onto medicines refresher training.
Staff received training, supervisions and appraisals from the registered manager to develop and expand their skills and knowledge. Staff were encouraged and supported to give people a good-quality service. Checks were made to monitor the quality of care being given including provider visits to the service. Any actions required were either completed or on-going.
Staff treated the people they supported kindly. People and their relatives had positive opinions of the staff who cared for them or their relative. Staff promoted and maintained people’s privacy and dignity when caring for them. People who required this support from staff were encouraged to attend events within the local community.
Staff supported people to eat and drink enough amounts and people were involved in making decisions about their care. Staff gave and respected people’s choices. Their preferences on how staff delivered their care was recorded in care records for staff to follow.
Staff investigated any complaints received and resolved them where possible. People and their relatives knew how to raise any concerns. Staff gave people and their relatives opportunities to give their view of the service and from this feedback action was taken to make any improvements.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update:
The last rating for this service was good (published 3 March 2017). Since this rating was awarded the registered provider of the service has changed. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.
Why we inspected
This is the first inspection since the service reregistered with the CQC on 18 January 2019.
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.