Support Care Services

Updated 22 August 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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

This inspection was announced and took place on 24 July 2019. We gave the service one week’s notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection we reviewed information the provider is required by law to send us about events and incidents involving people. We also used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records, two people’s medicines records, three staff recruitment files and other records relating to the management of the service including policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We spoke with three relatives of people using the service who shared their feedback and experiences of the service. We also sought feedback from a professional who worked with the service. The registered manager sent us information we requested which included training and supervision records for staff, information about complaints and copies of quality surveys completed by people using the service.

Updated 22 August 2019

About the service

Support Care Services is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’, that is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do this, we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection there were five people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The quality and safety of the service had improved for people since our last inspection. The registered manager had made sure all staff received the training they needed to help them meet the range of people’s needs. Changes had been made to recruitment and selection processes to reduce the risk of people being supported by unsuitable staff. The quality of information recorded by staff about the support people received had improved which helped keep everyone involved in people’s care up to date about their current health and wellbeing. The quality monitoring system had been updated so audits and checks now covered those areas of the service where we previously found issues. This helped reduce the risk of these reoccurring.

The registered manager’s knowledge and understanding of legal requirements had improved. But there was some inconsistency around how they applied this in some instances. The registered manager was not always clear about when to tell us about events and incidents involving people. We also found the rating from the last inspection was not clearly displayed on the new website for the service, to inform people and others about the quality and safety of the service. The registered manager took immediate action after this inspection to ensure the rating was clearly displayed.

People received their medicines as prescribed. But, medicines records were not always maintained in a consistent way. The registered manager was already aware of this and was working with a dispensing pharmacist to improve the quality of information for staff about medicines, so that this could be properly recorded.

People received the care and support planned and agreed with them. Their choices for how support was provided were respected and staff delivered this in line with their wishes. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Staff knew people well and understood their needs and how these should be met.

Staff were encouraged to treat people with respect, maintain their dignity and privacy and to encourage their independence wherever possible, especially when being supported with their care needs. 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.

People were helped to eat and drink enough to meet their needs. Staff demonstrated they knew what people’s healthcare needs were and how they should be supported with these. They reported any issues and concerns about people promptly so that appropriate support could be sought for them, especially if they became ill.

Staff were trained to safeguard people from abuse and to report any concerns they had to the appropriate person and agencies. Staff knew how to manage and minimise identified risks to people’s safety and wellbeing. They followed good practice when providing personal care and when preparing and handling food which reduced hygiene risks.

People, their representatives and staff were encouraged to have their say about how the service could improve. The registered manager investigated all events, incidents and complaints and kept people involved and informed of the outcome. Learning from investigations was shared with staff to help them improve the quality and safety of the support they provided. The registered manager worked in partnership with other agencies and healthcare professionals to make sure people received the care and support they needed.

New technology was being introduced to improve the service further. This would give staff secure access through mobile smart phones to information about people’s care and support needs. The registered manager told us this would help them monitor that people were getting the right care and support at the right time.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 30 August 2018) and there were two breaches of regulation. Since this rating was awarded the registered provider of the service has moved premises. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.