Background to this inspection
Updated
29 July 2015
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 was 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.
An inspection visit to the branch office took place on 3 June 2015. The provider was given short notice of the visit in line with our current methodology for inspecting domiciliary care agencies.
The inspection team was made up of one adult social care inspector and an expert by experience, who conducted telephone interviews with people who used the service. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.
We spoke with seven people by telephone, about their experiences of Rowan Care Services Ltd. This included four people who used the service and three people’s close relatives. All the people we spoke with told us they were very happy with the service provided. We spoke with seven staff who were either members of care staff or based at the branch office. This included the registered manager and the branch nurse. We also talked with the chief executive of the company, who made themselves available at the branch, on the day.
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. We reviewed previous inspection reports and information we held about the service, which included incident notifications they had sent us. We contacted Doncaster Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We also obtained the views of service commissioners.
We looked at records relating to people who used the service and staff, as well as the management of the service. This included reviewing six people’s care records, staff recruitment, training, and support files, medication records, minutes of meetings, complaints records, policies and procedures and quality assurance records.
Updated
29 July 2015
The inspection took place on 3 June 2015. The provider was given short notice of the visit to the office in line with our current methodology for inspecting domiciliary care services. The service was previously inspected in April 2013, when no breaches of legal requirements were found.
Rowan Care Services Ltd - Doncaster provides nursing and personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. The office is based in Doncaster and is accessible by public transport. At the time of our inspection there were 66 people receiving nursing and personal care from the service.
The service had a registered manager at the time of our inspection. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
All nursing tasks were overseen by a qualified nurse, who made sure the staff were trained, competent and confident in each protocol and reviewed the person’s care regularly.
We found that people’s needs had been assessed before their care package commenced and they told us they had been fully involved in creating and updating their care plans. The information included in the care records we saw clearly identified people’s individual needs and preferences, as well as any risks associated with their care and the environment they lived in.
People received a service that was based on their needs and wishes. We saw changes in their needs were quickly identified to enable their care package to be amended to meet the changes.
Policies and procedures were in place covering the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), which aims to protect people who may not have the capacity to make decisions for themselves. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 sets out what must be done to make sure that the human rights of people who may lack mental capacity to make decisions are protected, including balancing autonomy and protection in relation to consent or refusal of care or treatment. Staff had received training in this subject.
Where people needed assistance taking their medication this was administered in a timely way by staff who had been trained to carry out this role.
We found there were enough staff employed to meet the needs of the people who used the service. People told us they were introduced to their care workers before they provided any care or support and the company tried to match people with members of care staff they felt would suit them. People we spoke with praised the staff who supported them and raised no concerns about how their care was delivered.
There was a recruitment system in place so staff underwent the necessary checks before they were employed. We saw new staff had received a very comprehensive induction and training at the beginning of their employment. This had been followed by a broad range of relevant training to keep their knowledge and skills updated. Staff told us they felt very well supported by the management team.
The company had a complaints policy, which was provided to each person in the information given to them at the start of their care package. We saw that concerns that had been recorded in the complaint file had been investigated and responded to appropriately. We saw that compliment cards and letters had also been received.
The provider had systems in place to enable people to share their opinion of the service provided and to check staff were performing their role satisfactorily.