Castle Care Teesdale Limited

Updated 26 July 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 was planned to check 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 site visit activity took place on 3 July 2018. It included a visit to the location to speak with the registered manager and to review care records and policies and procedures. The inspection was announced. One adult social care inspector and an assistant inspector carried out the inspection. On 4 July 2018, we visited six people and met three family members in their own home, observed staff practice and carried out face to face interviews with five staff members.

In addition to the registered manager, we also spoke with the assistant manager and care co-ordinator and spoke with five members of staff. We looked at the care records of six people who used the service and the personnel files for six members of staff.

Before we visited the service we checked the information we held about this location and the service provider, for example, inspection history, statutory notifications and complaints. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send to the Commission by law. We contacted professionals involved in caring for people who used the service, including commissioners and safeguarding staff.

The service had submitted a pre inspection information return to us in January 2017 which we used to inform our inspection. A PIR 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 also reviewed action plans the service had submitted to the Commission following our visit in February 2017. This set out how the service intended to make improvements and ensure it met all required regulations.

Updated 26 July 2018

This inspection took place on 3 and 4 July 2018 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours notice of the inspection to ensure we could meet with staff and people using the service in their own homes.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. On the day of our inspection there were 47 people receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

At the last inspection in June 2017 we rated the service as ‘Requires Improvement’ as we wanted to see sustained evidence of improvement following an inspection in February 2017 where we found the service in multiple breach of regulations and rated it as ‘Inadequate’. We saw at this inspection considerable improvements had been sustained and we now rated the service as 'Good'.

People told us they felt safe with the staff from Castle Care Teesdale Limited. The registered manager and team leaders understood their responsibilities with regard to safeguarding and staff and managers had received updated training in the protection of vulnerable adults.

The provider had an effective recruitment and selection procedure in place. People who used the service and their family members said staff usually arrived on time and stayed for the agreed length of time.

Accidents and incidents had been appropriately recorded and risk assessments were in place for people who used the service and staff. The service demonstrated it learnt from accidents, incidents and safeguarding issues and shared this learning with the staff team to drive improvements.

There was a safe system in place for the management of medicines and medicines administration records were completed accurately.

Staff were suitably trained and training was arranged for any due refresher training. Staff received regular supervisions and appraisals.

The provider was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

People were protected from the risk of poor nutrition and staff were aware of people’s nutritional needs. We saw that the management team and staff were committed to supporting people to remain in their own homes with support and worked with district nurses, G.P’s, occupational therapy, physiotherapists and other specialist services as and when needed.

People who used the service and family members we spoke with were complimentary about the standard of care provided by the staff at Castle Care Teesdale Limited. People said their privacy and dignity were respected and they enjoyed positive relationships with the care staff.

Care records showed that people’s needs had been assessed before they started using the service and care plans were written in a person centred way. This meant that their preferences and wishes were respected.

People who used the service and family members were aware of how to make a complaint and people told us issues raised had been addressed by the management team.

Staff told us they were supported by the registered manager, assistant manager and care co-ordinator and were comfortable raising any concerns. People who used the service, family members and staff were regularly consulted about the quality of the service. People and family members told us the management and office staff were approachable. We saw some recent concerns from people and relatives regarding communication with the office had been addressed by the management team.