Quality Home Care UK Limited

Updated 21 December 2019

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector completed this inspection.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses, flats and specialist housing.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service four days’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We phoned the registered manager on 13 November 2019 to inform them of the inspection. We made phone calls to people who used the service and staff on the 14 November 2019. The inspector spoke to three people, and five relatives. These people gave their views about the service they received. The inspector also phoned four care staff to find out their experiences of working for Quality Home Care UK ltd.

During the office visit on 18 November 2019, the inspector considered the care records of three people who used the service. We also looked at three staff recruitment files and other records relating to the management of the service. This included audits, policies and incident records. We spoke to the registered manager about the service.

Updated 21 December 2019

About the service

Quality Home Care UK Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. They provide personal care support to people living in their own homes. 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. At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting 27 people with personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We found there was not always staff guidance in place for the use of ‘as needed’ medicines. There was also no guidance in place for where to apply creams to people. While staff had good knowledge, this record keeping concern meant staff did not always have written guidance to support them. Otherwise, medicines were managed safely.

People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. This is because assessments had not been made on their ability to make decisions. The systems in the service did not support this practice.

People felt safe using the service. Staff were aware of how to keep people safe and had received thorough training. A clear governance system ensured that incidents that were responded to appropriately. There were enough staff to support people, and these staff followed safe infection control procedures.

Records were kept on people’s physical, mental and social needs. These followed expected standards and provided sufficient guidance to staff. This enabled people to receive safe care that followed their preferences. People reported being able to feedback into their care planning and make suggestions or complaints.

People were supported to eat meals of their choice. Where people required external health and social care support, then staff recorded recommendations and followed them.

People reported receiving a high-quality service, from staff that were caring in their approach. This caring ethos resulted in person centred care that met people’s needs. Where concerns were raised during inspection, the registered manager was quick to try to resolve them. We found the service was well led.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 15 November 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.