Archived: Haven Home Care Limited

Updated 28 September 2016

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 July and 8 August 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care; we needed to be sure someone would be available. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

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. Before the inspection we reviewed the information in the PIR as well as all the information we held about the service, this included notifications of significant changes or events. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send us within the required timescale. The provider was not commissioned through the local authority, with referrals into the service mainly through word of mouth on private arrangements.

We spoke with five people who used the service and three family members. We also spoke with the registered manager and two care workers. We looked at a range of care records which included the care records for six of the 18 people who used the service, medicines records for three people and recruitment records for two care workers.

Updated 28 September 2016

The inspection took place on 29 July and 8 August 2016. This was an announced inspection. We last inspected Haven Home Care Limited on 11 May and 1 June 2015. At that inspection we found the registered provider was not meeting the requirements of all the regulations we inspected. We found medicines administration records (MARs) were incomplete and inaccurate. The provider also lacked an effective system of audits to ensure people received their medicines safely.

Although we found some inaccuracies in MARs during this inspection, we found the quality of recording on MARs had improved.

Haven Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care service, which provides support with shopping, domestic tasks and personal care to people living in their own home. At the time of this inspection 18 people were using the service.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager 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.

The provider had breached the regulation relating to good governance. Effective medicines audits were still not in place to ensure people received their medicines safely. We found care workers had supported people without supervision prior to recruitment checks having been completed. We found no evidence that spot checks were carried out effectively to provide a robust check on the quality of people’s care. Essential training had lapsed for most care workers. The provider did not have documented plans to deal with emergency situations, such as a business continuity plan.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.

People were happy with the care they received. They told us they were supported to make their own choices. One person said, “The care workers are very good. They treat me very well indeed.”

Care workers demonstrated a good understanding of safeguarding and the provider’s whistle blowing procedure. They knew how to report concerns appropriately.

People received their care from a consistent and reliable team of care workers. One person told us “You can rely and depend on them.” Another person commented, “They always turn up on time. If they are ever held up they will ring me.”

People using the service were able to make their own decisions about their care needs and told us they were in control.

Care workers were well supported in their role. They received regular one to one supervision and an appraisal.

People were supported to meet their nutritional needs in line with their assessed needs. People confirmed care workers supported them to make the meals they wanted to eat.

People’s needs were assessed when they started receiving a service. This included gathering information about their particular needs and personal preferences. This information was used to develop personalised care plans. Care plans provided prompts for care workers to help ensure people received consistent care.

People knew how to complain if they were unhappy with any aspect of their care. None of the people we spoke with raised any concerns with us. One person said, “If something was worrying me I would tell them, they are alright. I have no concerns at all.”

The provider carried out regular surveys to gather people’s views of the service. Feedback from the most recent survey and previous surveys was all positive with all people stating they were happy with their care service.