Updated 16 April 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.
Service and service type:
Rely Care Agency is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides support to adults, including people with dementia.
Not everyone supported by Rely Care Agency receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the registered manager is also the registered manager at other locations and we needed to be sure that they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity took place on 19 February. We visited the office location on this date to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did:
Before the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service including notifications the service was required to send us about things happening in the home, information from other stakeholders, for example the local authority and members of the public. In addition, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.
During the inspection we spoke with the person using the service, two members of staff, the liaison consultant and the registered manager. We reviewed care records and quality assurance audits completed by the provider.