Archived: Hampshire Domiciliary Care Agency

Updated 12 January 2017

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 21, 25 and 30 November 2016.The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service; we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

One inspector carried out the inspection. Before the inspection, we asked the provider to complete 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 reviewed the completed PIR before the inspection. We also checked other information we held about the service and the service provider, including previous inspection reports and notifications about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

During the inspection, we spoke with five people who used the service or their relatives by telephone and visited five people in their homes. We spoke to the registered manager, the regional manager, a coordinator and six staff members. Following the inspection, we spoke with two health care professionals who had regular contact with the service, to obtain their views about the care provided. We looked at care records for five people. We also reviewed records about the management of the service, including staff training and recruitment records.

Updated 12 January 2017

This inspection, which took place on 21, 25 and 30 November 2016, was completed by one inspector. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service; we needed to be sure that someone would available in the office.

Hampshire Domiciliary Care Agency provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, the agency was providing a service for eight people with a variety of care needs, including people living with a learning disability or who have autism spectrum disorder. The agency was managed from a centrally located office base in Eastleigh.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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 registered manager also managed one of the providers other services. They had undertaken quality assurance audits, which provided a comprehensive review of the service and were in the process of completing actions from a quality improvement plan. This plan outlined areas the registered manager had identified as requiring improvement in order to provide safe, high quality care.

The service had not identified all risks to people or put in place sufficient measures to support staff to manage these risks. Some risk assessments for people’s health or medical conditions were not available, whilst the information in other risks assessments were not always in line with professional guidance to safely support people.

Care plans for some people at the service were incomplete or contained information that did not reflect people’s preferences and needs. Other people’s care plans were comprehensive and informative, giving staff guidance to support people with their health and wellbeing. People told us they were involved in the planning and reviewing of their care and support.

There were a sufficient number of staff available to support people. Staff teams comprised of permanent staff and agency staff. People and their relatives told us that permanent staff provided compassionate person centred care. However, people and their relatives gave mixed views about agency staff’s ability to provide effective care for people.

Permanent staff were supported to be effective in their role through appropriate training, induction and ongoing supervision. However, some agency staff had not received an induction to the service, had not been given information about the people they were working with, and in some cases had not received all training required in relation to people’s health and medical needs.

Staff had an understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures and the steps needed to keep people safe. The service had a whistleblowing policy in place. Staff were knowledgeable about organisations they could contact if they had concerns about people.

Staff followed legislation designed to protect people’s rights and freedoms. They understood the need to gain consent before providing care and advocacy services were consulted where people required support to access their rights and the services they required.

People had access to healthcare services and were supported to attend regular health appointments. Staff also supported people with their nutritional and medicines needs, in order to monitor their wellbeing and respond to changes in their health.

Permanent staff were knowledgeable about the people they supported. They demonstrated a kind and compassionate nature, treating them with dignity and respect and showing a concern for their wellbeing. People were supported to follow their interests and stay in touch with important people in their life.

The service listened to feedback and complaints from people in order to improve the service.

We identified two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we have taken in the full version of this report.