Background to this inspection
Updated
5 December 2023
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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.
Inspection team
The inspection team consisted of 1 inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses.
Registered Manager
This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.
At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.
Notice of inspection
The inspection was announced. We gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 03 November 2023 and ended on 07 November 2023.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed information held in our systems as well as any notifications sent to us by the provider.
During the inspection
We spoke with 1 relative to get their experiences about the quality of care received. Two people were not able to speak with us, however one person had written feedback about the care they had received which we included in our judgements about the quality of care people received.
We spoke with three members of care staff, a deputy manager and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. These included examples of 2 people's care records, as well as associated records that included daily report logs and medicine administration records. We reviewed 2 staff recruitment files, policies and procedures and examples of quality assurance checks and meeting minutes.
Updated
5 December 2023
About the service
Visiting Angels Warwickshire is a community-based care provider that provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection, the registered manager told us they supported 16 people but not everyone received a regulated activity.
Three people were in receipt of the regulated activity of personal care. 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 received care calls that were a minimum 1 hour in duration per call.
People’s experience of the service and what we found:
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessment and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.
Right Support
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People’s freedom was not unnecessarily restricted, and people were not physically restrained. People’s support was provided in their own homes that were assessed as safe, clean, equipped and maintained. Staff worked with people, their relatives and health and social care professionals to maintain people’s overall health and wellbeing. Staff supported people to take their medicines safely and as prescribed.
Right Care
People were supported by staff who arrived at preferred times, knew them well and were kind and attentive to their needs. People’s safety and care needs were identified, their care was planned, and their needs were met. There was an approach to supporting people so their individual preferences and lifestyles were respected, whilst their safety needs were balanced with supportive risk management. Staff understood how to protect people from abuse and were confident the registered manager would take action to protect people, should this be required. Robust recruitment checks made sure staff were of suitable character to support people.
Right Culture
We found there was a positive and person-centred culture at the service, which focused on meetings people’s needs. A relative spoke positively about the service and staff team and written feedback from people showed they appreciated the support they received. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their needs. The registered manager and provider regularly checked the quality of people’s care and used their findings to improve the quality of the service and to take learning from incidents. The provider invested in staff and provided opportunities and financial incentives to staff to reward their individual efforts and commitment.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The service was registered with us on 04 November 2022 and this is their first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the date the service was first registered with the CQC.
Follow Up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.