Best@Care Limited

Updated 17 June 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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 houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. The provider was acting as the manager for the service and they were in the process of applying to become the registered manager following completion of a level five diploma in health and social care qualification.

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 would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 6 May 2022 and ended on 10 May 2022. We visited the location’s office/service on 6 May 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the relatives for two people using the service and we contacted three care workers via email. We met the manager who was also a director of the company. We looked at a range of records which included the care records for three people, three care worker’s files and a range of records including those used for monitoring the quality of the service, such as audits, minutes of meetings and policies.

Updated 17 June 2022

About the service

Best@Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency which provides care and support for people in their home. At the time of the inspection the service was providing support for nine people, five of who were receiving the regulated activity of personal care. 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

Relatives felt their family members were safe when they received support. The provider had a robust recruitment process enabling them to identify new staff with the required skills and experience for the role. Procedures had been developed to investigate, respond and identify lessons which could be learned from any safeguarding concerns, incidents and accidents and complaints received. Medicines were managed safely and administered as prescribed.

Care workers received appropriate training so they could meet people’s care and support needs. Care workers felt supported by the management. People’s care and support needs were assessed and reviewed regularly. 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; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Relatives felt the care workers who supported their family member were kind, caring and respected their dignity and privacy. Care plans identified people’s cultural and religious preferences. People’s care was provided in a person-centred manner with care plans identifying their support need and how they wanted their care provided. People’s communication support needs were identified.

The provider had a range of quality assurance processes in place to monitor the quality of the care being provided. The provider worked in partnership with other organisations

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 2 November 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was conducted based on the date of registration.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.