Right at Home Reigate & Crawley

Updated 5 July 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.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

Service and service type:

Right at Home Reigate and Crawley is a domiciliary care agency which provides care and support to people in their own homes. It provides a service to older people living with dementia, sensory impairment and physical disabilities. The agency had a total of 18 people of who received the regulated activity of personal care.

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 carried out this inspection on 7 February 2019. We gave the provider 48 hours notice of this inspection in order that they could arrange telephone interviews for us. It also meant they could be available in the office to assist us with the inspection. This is our methodology for inspecting this type of service.

What we did: we visited the office location and had telephone discussions with people, relatives, staff and an external professional. Staff also completed a questionnaire.

Before the inspection we gathered information about the service by contacting the local and placing authorities. In addition, we reviewed records held by CQC which included notifications, complaints and any safeguarding concerns. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern at the inspection.

During the inspection, we reviewed three people’s care records, four staff files around staff recruitment, training and supervision and records relating to the management of the agency. We spoke with the quality compliance manager and five members of staff.

After the inspection we conducted telephone interviews with five people and four relatives, and received feedback about the service from five staff members.

Updated 5 July 2019

About the service: Right at Home Reigate and Crawley is a domiciliary care agency which provides care and support to people in their own homes. It provides a service to older people living with dementia, sensory impairment and physical disabilities and younger people. Not everyone using Right at Home Reigate and Crawley receives the 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 the wider social care provided. The service had a total of 18 clients who received the regulated activity personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

People who received care from Right at Home Reigate and Crawley told us they felt safe and well supported by staff who visited them. They stated that staff were “excellent" and they would carry out extra requests if asked. Staff were punctual for visits and cared for people in an extremely person-centred manner.

People were supported to continue living at home in a way that enabled them to be as independent as possible. Staff and senior managers went to great efforts to make sure that people took part in activities and encouraged people to enjoy those activities that mattered to them.

Staff were trained and supported to be effective carers in a collaborative team. Staff responded to people’s healthcare needs and supported them to access healthcare professionals such as occupational therapists, GPs, dietitians and district nurses.

People and relatives described staff as caring and kind. People and their relatives told us that staff and management at the service were approachable and friendly and staff got to know them very well.

Care plans were produced from the pre admission assessments with the involvement of people and their relatives. This ensured they were person centred and tailored to people’s needs and routines. People and their relatives told us that staff followed their care plans and they could make changes to how they received their care at any time.

The agency was well managed by a supportive management team. People, relatives and staff told us that the management of the agency listened to them and acted on suggestions they made. We received positive feedback from an external professional around the care provided by the staff.

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

Rating at last inspection: This was the first inspection since the service registered with Care Quality Commission.

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