Updated 9 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 conducted by an inspector and Expert by Experience. The inspector visited the office to review records and the Expert by Experience spoke to people on the phone to seek their views about the care they received. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
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 in process of registering with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they, when registered, 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. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
Our planning took into account information we held about the service. Since the last inspection there had not been any incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse or serious injury.
We 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
During the inspection, we spoke with one person who used the service and three relatives. We spoke with the manager, the senior manager and four members of staff. We looked at three people’s care records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision records.
Multiple records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider were reviewed during and after the inspection.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the manager to validate evidence found. We looked at training data, policies and quality assurance records.