Updated 26 February 2019
The inspection: We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.
Inspection team: The inspection team consisted of an adult social care inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.
Service and service type: MSS Care Ltd is a domiciliary care service. Staff deliver personal care support to people living in their own homes. Services are provided to both younger and older people who have learning or physical disabilities, who are living with dementia, have sensory impairments and or related mental health conditions.
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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary service and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be available to speak with us. We also needed to ensure that people’s consent was gained for us to contact them for feedback about the service. The Expert by Experience telephoned people, with their permission on the 4 February 2019 to gain their views of the service. We visited the office location on 6 February 2019 to speak with the registered manager and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did: We reviewed the records held on the service. This included previous inspection reports and notifications. Notifications are specific events that the provider is required to tell us by law. We reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR) submitted by the registered manager. This told us what the service had achieved and what they intend to develop in future. We require the provider to submit this annually and it provides us with information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection we spoke with staff, reviewed three staff recruitment and supervision files, six care records and records relating to health and safety, safeguarding and other aspects of the service. We spoke with two team leaders, care and administration staff, trainer and the registered manager. The expert by experience telephoned and spoke with 11 people who use the service and three relatives to gain their views of the service. We provided details for care staff to contact us to share their views on the service but received no phone calls or e mails from staff.