All Age Development Trust

Updated 6 July 2021

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

This inspection was undertaken by an inspector.

Service and service type

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

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. The manager was also the registered provider. This means that they 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 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider/registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 12 May 2021 and ended on 28 May 2021. We visited the office location on 12 May 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 spoke with two people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff including the registered provider/manager and support staff.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic we limited the time we spent on site. Therefore, we requested records and documentation to be made available to us and reviewed these off site and continued dialogue with the manager by email.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and their medication records. We looked at one staff file in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 6 July 2021

About the service

All Age Development is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to six people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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.

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

The registered provider had improved medication administration, particularly in recording and introducing protocols for administering specific medicines such as blood-thinners. People told us they always received their medicines when needed and these were never missed. The registered provider had also made improvements to the management of the service, notifying CQC of key events and having a system in place for gaining the views of people as well as supervising care practice.

People who used the service felt safe and again emphasised the care and attention the service had provided in keeping them safe through the COVID-19 pandemic. They felt positive relationships had been fostered between them and the staff team. They emphasised support calls were never missed, staff arrived on time and stayed for the required time. They saw the service as flexible in meeting their needs.

People who used the service were very positive about the support they received. They confirmed they were asked about the quality of the service regularly and had their views listened to. They stated the service was well- managed and reliable and were particularly complimentary of the registered provider and staff team for consistently meeting their individual needs. They stated they were involved in their support and this was person-centred. Staff saw the registered provider as knowledgeable, approachable and supportive; especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff worked alongside the registered provider during some support calls and had their care practice assessed.

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

Rating at last inspection and update.

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 28 August 2019) and there were breaches of regulations relating to safe care and treatment, and good governance. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of this regulation.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection. The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for All Age Development at www.cqc.org.uk.