Updated 13 May 2022
The inspection
We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2088 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.
Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or telephone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.
Inspection team
The performance review and assessment was completed by one inspector.
Service and service type
This is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses. 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 performance review and assessment there was a registered manager in post.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was announced.
We gave the service short notice. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be available to attend video meetings with us to support the performance review and assessment. Inspection activity started on 19 April 2022 and ended on 27 April 2022.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed the information we had received about the service since registration. 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 contacted the Local Authority to ask them to share feedback with us.
During the inspection
This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls and telephone calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff. We used electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.
During this time, we spoke with both providers, that is the two directors of the company. One director is the Nominated Individual and also the registered manager. The other director is the Quality Manager. Both undertake all the care calls to people. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. Throughout this report we will refer to the Nominated Individual and Quality Manager because they are the only staff at this time.
We also spoke with two people who gave feedback on the service.
We reviewed a range of records. This included two care plans and one medication record, policies and procedures and quality monitoring records the directors used to assure themselves people received a safe service.