Archived: Solent Care at Home Service

Updated 22 October 2015

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.

This inspection took place on 29 and 30 September 2015 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that the people we needed to talk to were available.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an expert-by-experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Our expert by experience for this inspection had expertise in services for older people.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also checked other information that we held about the service and the service provider, including notifications we received from the service. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

We used a variety of methods to inspect the service. We looked at records in relation to eight people’s care. We spoke with nine people using the service, nine relatives, the registered manager, two care co-ordinators, and six members of care staff.

We also visited and spoke with four people in their own homes to obtain feedback on the delivery of their care and to view care records held at people’s homes.

We looked at records relating to the management of the service, staff recruitment and training, and systems for monitoring the quality of the service.

We last inspected this service in October 2014 when we found one breach of legal requirements. This was because the provider did not have an effective system in place to assess and manage risks relating to the health, safety and welfare of service users and others. The provider wrote to us with an action plan which stated they would have made the required improvements by November 2014.

Updated 22 October 2015

We undertook this announced inspection on 29 and 30 September 2015.

Solent Care at Home is a domiciliary care service providing care and support to people living in their own homes. The office is based in Waterloovile and the service currently provides care and support to people living in the surrounding area. At the time of our inspection there were 192 people using the service.

The service had a registered manager. This 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.

Staff had not received all of the training relevant to their role. Despite describing itself as a specialist learning disability and autism service, staff had not undergone training in these areas.

People told us they felt safe using the service. They said their care workers identified themselves on arrival and this made them feel safe. All staff had had safeguarding training and knew what to do if they had concerns about the well-being of any of the people using the service.

Staff were safely recruited to help ensure they were fit to work with people who use care services.

Staff supported some people with their meals. Most people said they were pleased with how their meals were prepared and served however some people felt this could be improved. Staff were flexible with meals and understood that people might change their minds about what they wanted on a day to day basis.

People told us staff were aware of their health care needs and knew when to call the GP or other healthcare professionals if they needed them. If people appeared un-well staff knew what to do. If people needed support with their medication staff provided this safely.

People told us the staff were caring and treated them with dignity and respect. They gave us many examples of staff member’s caring approach to them. Records showed that people’s care was provided by either a single staff member or a group of two to three care workers. This enabled people to get to know the staff who supported them.

People were directly involved in the planning of their care and encouraged to be independent and made choices about how they wanted their support provided.

All the people we spoke with said they were happy with the service which they said was well-run.

People told us they were often visited by ‘managers’ to check on their well-being and monitor their care and support. People using the service were consulted and their opinions sought on all aspects of the service.

We identified one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.