Melody Care Aldershot Ltd

Updated 26 September 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by 2 inspectors 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.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 20 July 2023 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We received feedback on the service from commissioners and a social care professional. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 13 people, 10 relatives, 10 staff and the registered manager. We reviewed 6 people's care and medicine records and 5 staff recruitment files. We also reviewed records related to the safety and management of the service.

Updated 26 September 2023

About the service

Melody Care Aldershot Ltd is a domiciliary care service providing personal care. The service provides support to adults, who may have a physical disability, sensory impairment or learning disability. They also support people living with dementia, people who misuse substances, people with a mental health diagnosis and people with an eating disorder. At the time of our inspection there were 54 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

People were happy overall with the care they received. Feedback included, “I think they are doing a good job” and “I’m very satisfied.” Some people felt aspects of communication and the timing of some calls could be improved. The registered manager was aware and action was being taken.

There were sufficient competent staff to ensure people received the support they required. The provider took prompt action after the site visit to ensure all staff recruitment information was available. Potential risks to people had been assessed and staff understood what to report and to whom. People were protected against the risk of abuse. Processes were in place for the reporting and reviewing of incidents. Processes were in place to protect people from the risk of acquiring an infection. People received their medicines safely.

The provider had clear objectives for the delivery of people’s care and worked alongside other agencies and professionals to meet people’s care needs safely. Processes were in place to monitor the delivery of people’s calls from day to day in order to identify and address any issues and to audit aspects of the service.

The provider’s purchase of 2 additional agencies this year had created challenges, as people and staff adjusted. The focus throughout has remained on achieving good outcomes for people. The registered manager was experienced in their role, they understood and managed potential risks to people’s care. The views of people and staff were sought using various methods.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

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 good (published 30 October 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains the same. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Melody Care Aldershot Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.