Archived: ClarkeCare Limited

Updated 19 July 2018

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.

This announced comprehensive inspection was carried out by one inspector on 22 May 2018. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that someone would be available.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. (PIR) This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at information we held about the service including notifications they had made to us about important events. We also reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders for example the local authority and members of the public.

At the time of the inspection visit we spoke with four people who used the service and one relative. We spoke with the registered manager, six care support staff and one healthcare professional involved with the service. We reviewed four people’s care records, policies and procedures, records relating to the management of the service, training records and the recruitment records of care workers.

Prior to our inspection we sent questionnaires to people who used the service, relatives, the service’s staff and community professionals. This was to gain their views about the service. We received completed questionnaires from five people, six relatives, seven staff and five community professionals.

Updated 19 July 2018

ClarkeCare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to adults. At the time of this announced inspection of 22 May 2018 the agency provided 300 hours of personal care a week to people in the Bury St Edmunds area. This supported approximately 56 people. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of our inspection to make sure that someone was available.

At our last inspection of 4 and 8 September 2015, the service was rated Outstanding overall. We found the evidence continued to support the rating of Outstanding overall and improvements had been made in the key question for Responsive. Responsive had become Outstanding. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

The service had built on their previous success and sustained the outstanding model of care and support provided to people using their service. The management team and staff continued to find ways to improve the service and remained driven by their passion for caring for people, including those with dementia. The vision and the values of the service remained embedded.

Staff had an excellent understanding of people's needs and were imaginative in the way they provided person centred care which put people at the heart of the service. They continued to find creative ways of supporting people to have an exceptional quality of life and remain in their own home.

The service provided to people was safe. Where people required support with their medicines, this was done safely. There were systems in place which were intended to minimise the risks to people, including from abuse and in their daily lives. There were enough care workers to cover people’s planned care visits and for people to have consistent staff that they knew. Recruitment of care workers was done carefully and safely. There were infection control procedures and equipment in place to guide care workers in how to minimise the risks of cross infection.

The service continued to provide an effective service. People were supported by care workers who were well trained and supported to meet their needs. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and care workers cared for them in the least restrictive way possible; the ethos, policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Where people required support with their dietary needs, systems were in place to support them. People were supported to have access to health professionals where needed. The service worked with other organisations involved in people’s care to provide a consistent service.

The service continued to provide extremely caring support to people. Feedback from all sources was consistently that people received kind, respectful and compassionate care. People had meaningful and positive relationships with the care workers and the registered manager. People’s dignity, privacy and independence were respected and promoted at all times. People’s views were sought, listened to and valued continuously.

The service provided was very responsive. People received care and support which was assessed, planned and delivered to meet their individual needs. Services were tailored to meet the needs of individual people and were delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care. People gave numerous examples of how flexible the service was to their changing needs. There were effective, caring systems in place to support and care for people at the end of their lives, where required. Staff had the skills to support people at the end of their lives and had received appropriate training to do so. A complaints procedure was in place and feedback was acted upon and used to improve the service to people.

Staff spoke consistently about the service being a good place to work. The registered provider had worked in partnership with other organisations and had set up several good practice initiatives within the local community. The agency had won awards in 2017 in recognition of the outstanding service provided.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.