Background to this inspection
Updated
16 March 2019
The inspection:
¿ 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 is 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.
Inspection team:
¿ The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.
Service and service type
¿ Grace at Home Limited is a care agency that provides personal care to people in their own homes. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates the care provided by the agency. The service had a manager registered with the CQC. 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 visit to ensure the registered manager was present at the office to assist with our inspection. The site inspection with the registered manager present took place on 21st January 2019.
What we did:
¿ Our inspection was informed by evidence we already held about the service including notifications.
¿ We also checked for feedback received from members of the public.
¿ We checked records held by Companies House regarding the company.
¿ We asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
¿ On 16 January 2019 we visited four people in their homes. In addition we called and spoke with one person, two relatives and three staff to get their views on the service.
¿ We looked at six care plans, medicines records and daily records held in people’s homes.
¿ We spoke with the registered manager at the office inspection to review care records and policies and procedures.
¿ We reviewed two staff recruitment files, staff training and competency check records, medicines records and copies of staff rotas.
¿ Following the inspection further information was requested from the registered manager. We received and reviewed this information. This evidence was included as part of our inspection.
Updated
16 March 2019
About the service:
Grace at Home Limited is a privately-owned home care agency providing care and support to people in their own houses and flats in the community. The service has one location with a small office in Woking and provides care and support to people living in the nearby surrounding areas. At the time of the inspection Grace at Home were providing personal care to 10 people. Those receiving a service were older adults in the age range of 80 plus.
People’s experience of using this service:
¿ Improvements were required that related to the recording of audits, staff supervision and recruitment. We have made a recommendation around this.
¿ People who received care from Grace at Home told us that all staff were very caring and that care was of a high quality and consistent standard. One person said, “They are all lovely, they will do anything you ask, you just have to ask.”
¿ People and relatives using the service told us they felt safe and were reassured with the care provided. One relative said, “I absolutely feel my mother is safe in their care.”
¿ Relatives and families told us that the service was caring, and well led and respected individuals needs and preferences. One relative said. “The agency is very caring, both the individual carers and the manager.”
¿ People liked the size of the agency as it was small, and personal. One person said, “They don’t rush in and out, they spend time with you.”
¿ People’s care was personalised to their individual needs. People received their care from regular staff who knew their care needs well. Staff spoke positively about working for the agency. They felt supported and they could talk to the registered manager. They felt the registered manager was extremely caring and had people’s best interests at the heart of the business. They said that the ethos of the agency was providing the best possible care for people.
¿ Staff felt valued and happy in their work.
More information for each of the key areas of Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, and Well-led can be found in the full report.
Rating at last inspection:
¿ At our last inspection the service was rated as Good. The report was published on 14 June 2016.
We found at this inspection, the service was rated Good.
Why we inspected:
¿ This inspection was part of our routine scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people receive.
Follow up:
¿ Following our inspection the registered manager supplied information we requested. We have used this information to support us with our judgements.
¿ We will continue to monitor the service as per our published inspection methodology to ensure that people receive safe, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates.