Heydays Care & Support Services LTD

Updated 15 December 2022

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.

As part of CQC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place.

This inspection took place on 1 December 2022 and was announced. We gave the service one days’ notice of the inspection.

Updated 15 December 2022

About the service:

Heydays Care & Support Services is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. This includes personal care, respite care, overnight care and home care services. Not everyone using Heydays Care & Support Services receives regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care' (help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating). Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. When we inspected the service was being used by 91 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they felt they received care in a safe and supportive way. We were told, “I feel safe and comfortable every time they come” and “All are friends, always kind and caring.” People and relatives told us the service was “very caring” and management were “friendly” and always available to listen to them. People spoke about staff and the service going the "extra mile."

People told us the service was well managed and the staff supporting them knew them well and respected their needs and preferences. Some said staff were more like friends than care workers. Care staff told us the management team set high standards for care and support.

Staff had received appropriate training, induction and development to carry out their work and support people safely. There were sufficient numbers of skilled staff working with people and they received supervision and support so they could support people effectively. There was a thorough recruitment process to help make new staff were suitable to work with the people in their homes. Only staff who had received training in safe medicine administration were able to give medicines and we saw this was being done safely.

Staff were supplied with personal protective equipment for use to prevent the spread of infections. Staff had received training in infection control. Staff told us they could restock this equipment whenever they needed.

The provider had safeguarding systems to protect people from the risk of abuse or unsafe care. Staff were aware of the procedures, had received training on it and knew what action to take. There were effective systems for assessing and managing risk to help make sure people and staff were kept safe from foreseeable risks.

The registered provider had procedures in place for assessing a person's mental capacity in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff assessed and regularly reviewed people’s physical, mental health and social needs and updated the care plans when changes happened. Care plans had been developed with the close involvement of the person and where appropriate their families and representatives. People told us staff were reliable and acted quickly if they needed any help or if they were feeling unwell.

People's social and emotional needs were considered as part of the overall service and social isolation was recognised as a major issue for some people. The registered provider had introduced social events for people to help reduce the risks from social isolation. Staff actively promoted people's independence and respected their privacy.

People and their relatives were aware of how to raise concerns or complaints. Complaints received by the service had been investigated and responded to in line with the provider's own procedures. People told us, “I would not hesitate to contact the office if I had a problem, the office staff are approachable and kind.” The service acted upon the comments people made with them to try to make sure lessons were learned.

The nominated individual and registered manager demonstrated strong leadership, oversight and daily involvement in the service. They understood their duty of candour and the requirement to notify us of any significant incidents at the service. The service had systems to assess quality and people told us they were asked for their views about the support they received.

Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the service was rated good (published 28 September 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service and plan to inspect in line with our inspection schedule for those services rated good. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

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