Acme Care Ltd

Updated 10 October 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 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.

This comprehensive inspection was carried out by one inspector and an expert by experience. The expert by experience was a person who had personal experience of caring for someone who had similar care needs.

Inspection activity started on 15 August 2018 and ended on 6 September 2018. This included telephoning people and their relatives to get their views on the care they received. We visited the office location on 6 September 2018 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We told the provider we were coming so they could arrange to be there and arrange for care staff to be available to talk with us about the service.

The provider had completed a Provider Information Collection (PIC) before this inspection. 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. We reviewed the information in the PIC during our visit. We found the information reflected how the service operated.

Prior to the office visit we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included statutory notifications the service had sent us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law. There had been no notifiable incidents the provider needed to inform us about.

We reviewed the ‘share your experience’ information we had received. This is information that people who use the service/ relatives/members of the public or social care professionals want to tell us about. These can be concerns or compliments. We also contacted professionals who arranged placements with the service. Information received was considered as part of our inspection planning.

The provider sent a list of people who used the service to us; this was so we could contact people by phone to ask them their views of the service. We spoke with three people, and nine relatives of people who used the service. We used this information to help us make a judgement about the Acme Care Ltd.

During our inspection visit we spoke with the registered manager and assistant manager about their management of the service. We spoke with the care co-ordinator, and three care staff about their roles, and what it was like to work for Acme Care Ltd.

We reviewed three people’s care records to see how their care and support was planned and delivered. We looked at three staff recruitment files, staff training records and records associated with the provider's quality checking systems.

Updated 10 October 2018

The office visit of this inspection took place on 6 September 2018 and was announced.

Acme Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of this inspection the service supported 19 people and employed 28 care staff. Three people who used the service required regular support with personal care, other people required assistance to access community facilities. Staff provided personal care to people accessing community facilities when needed. Some people received support 24 hours a day, while other people received support at pre- arranged times.

At our last comprehensive inspection of the service in December 2015 we rated the service as Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

A requirement of the provider’s registration is that they have a registered manager. There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. The registered manager was also an owner of the company, and the providers ‘nominated individual’ for the service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People received care which protected them from avoidable harm and abuse. Staff understood people’s needs and knew how to protect them from the risk of abuse. Risks to people’s safety were identified and assessments were in place to manage identified risks. Where people required support to take prescribed medicines, staff had received training to assist people safely.

There were enough skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of people who used the service. People were supported by staff who had the skills and training to meet their needs. Recruitment checks were completed on new staff to ensure they were suitable to support people who used the service.

The managers and staff understood their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. People were involved in making every day decisions and choices about how they wanted to live their lives.

People were supported by a team of regular staff that they knew and who they said were kind and caring. Staff respected people's privacy and dignity and promoted their independence. Relatives and people said the support they received helped people who used the service live independently in their own homes.

The service was responsive to people’s needs and wishes. People were provided with care and support which was individual to them. Support plans were detailed and personalised. Plans provided guidance for staff about how to support each person in the way they preferred. People’s care and support needs were kept under review and staff responded when there were changes in these needs. Where required, people were supported to have sufficient to eat and drink and their health needs were regularly monitored.

The service continued to be well led. Staff said they received good support from the management team who were always available to give advice. Managers and staff told us there was good team work and that all staff worked well together. There were effective and responsive processes for assessing and monitoring the quality of the service provided.