Updated 8 May 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
The inspection was prompted in part by concerns received about the safety of people using the service. These allegations are subject to a third party investigation and as a result this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the allegations.
However, the information shared with CQC about the service indicated potential concerns about the management of safeguarding concerns.
Inspection team:
Two inspectors conducted the inspection.
Service and service type: 1st Class Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to adults who have learning disabilities. The service also provides care and support to people living in three ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 18 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the provider is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started on 5 March 2019 and ended on 6 March 2019. We visited the office location on 5 and 6 March 2019 to see the provider and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. Following the site visit telephone calls were made to relatives and staff on 12 March 2019.
What we did:
Prior to the inspection we reviewed notifications we had received from the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law. We also reviewed any information about the service that we had received from external agencies. We used this information to help us decide what areas to focus on during our inspection.
During the inspection we spoke with one relative, two staff members and the provider. We looked at three people’s care records, records of accidents, incidents and complaints and quality assurance records. We also looked at four staff recruitment records.
Following the inspection we requested further information from the provider. Most of this was received, however some information, for example the provider’s safeguarding and voluntary workers policies were not received at the time of writing the report.