Archived: Carewatch (Derby)

Updated 29 September 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 was planned to check 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 comprehensive inspection took place on the 20, 21 and 23 August 2018 and was announced. We gave the provider three days’ notice as they provide support to people in their own homes, and we had to gain people’s permission to contact them. We spoke with some staff when visiting the office and contacted other staff by telephone following the office visit. The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert-by-experience did not attend the office of the service or visit people at home, but spoke by telephone with people and relatives of people who used the service.

We checked the information we held about the service and the provider. This included notifications the provider had sent to us about significant events at the service and information we had received from the public. The provider had 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 also received feedback from the local authority and Clinical Commissioning Group who commission services from the provider. We used all of this information to formulate our inspection plan.

We spoke with nine people who used the service and five people’s relatives. We spoke with six care staff, two quality officers, two care coordinators, two members of the training team, the office administrator, the quality service and improvement manager and the regional operations director. We did this to gain people's views about the care and to check that standards of care were being met.

We looked at the care records for five people. We checked that the care they received matched the information in their records. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service, including quality checks and staff files.

Updated 29 September 2018

We inspected this service on 23 August 2018. This inspection was announced. This meant the provider and staff knew we would be visiting the service’s office before we arrived.

At our previous inspection on the 6 and 13 June 2017 the provider was not meeting one of the regulations that we checked and was in breach of Regulation 11 of the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.This was in relation to consistently ensuring people’s capacity to consent to their care was undertaken when needed. We identified that when relatives had confirmed they could legally make decisions on behalf of their relation, this had not been checked by the provider to ensure people’s rights were upheld. At our previous inspection other improvements were also needed. This was because some people did not have risk assessments in place where needed and their care plans did not always reflect their current support needs. The provider had not identified these areas for improvement within their quality monitoring checks. At this inspection we found that improvements had been made. We saw that people were protected under the Mental Capacity Act and their care plans and risk assessments reflected their support needs.

Carewatch (Derby) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. Not everyone using Carewatch (Derby) 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.

Carewatch (Derby) provides personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection a total of 108 people were using the service, of these 99 people were in receipt of personal care support.

The service had a registered manager in post. 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was not available on the day of our inspection visit due to planned annual leave.

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. Where people needed support to make specific decisions, their capacity had been assessed. Information was provided to staff to enable people to be supported in their best interests when needed. Risks to people were managed to reduce potential hazards and people’s care plans reflected their current needs and preferences.

People received their calls as agreed from a consistent staff team. People were supported by staff who understood what constituted abuse or poor practice and their role in reporting concerns. Checks on staff were done before they started work to ensure they were suitable to support people. Medicines were managed safely and people were supported to take their medicine when needed.

People were supported by trained staff who were provided with supervision by the management team to monitor their conduct and support their professional development. When needed, people were supported to maintain their dietary requirements and preferences and to access healthcare services.

People liked the staff and confirmed that the staff treated them with respect and ensured their privacy and dignity was upheld. The provider sought the opinions of people and their representatives to bring about improvements. People knew how to complain and we saw when complaints were made these were addressed. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service to enable the registered manager and provider to drive improvement. The provider understood their responsibilities around registration with us.