The Care Quality Commission
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Great North Home Care Limited

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

33 Elemore Close, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE13 9BW

Provided and run by:
Great North Home Care Limited

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Great North Home Care is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to older people, including people who may live with dementia, people with mental health needs or people with a learning disability or autism spectrum disorder, living in their own homes. At the time of inspection there were 12 people using the service and 6 were receiving the regulated activity 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. 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. The service was previously inspected in May 2019 and was rated good. Following information of concern received by the CQC, a focused unannounced assessment was carried out. Off site assessment activity started on 5 September 2024 and ended on 2 October 2024. At this assessment we found the service was meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, Right care, Right culture. Systems were in place to provide safe effective care and person-centred support to people. There were sufficient trained staff who worked well with other professionals to ensure people's needs were met. Detailed records provided guidance to ensure people received safe, person-centred care. An effective governance system was in place.

8 April 2019

During a routine inspection

About the service: Great North Home Care supports people to live independently. The service was providing personal care and support to two people living in their own homes at the time of inspection.

People’s experience of using this service: The registered manager and nominated individual had close oversight of the service. They ensured standards were maintained and people received a high quality of care from staff who knew them well. They played an active day to day role in the running of the service. Records were accurate, up to date and person-centred. Where there was scope for improvement, the registered manager was receptive to feedback. Auditing processes were not always in line with established best practice. We have made a recommendation about this.

They were supported by a team of dedicated staff who understood their roles and were well trained. People’s relatives spoke highly of the registered manager and nominated individual, as did staff. Staff had evidently developed strong bonds with people and feedback was consistently positive. Staff turnover was low and morale high.

People attended a range of activities, for instance going to the gym, and were encouraged to try new things.

Medicines administration was safe and staff had the appropriate skills and knowledge. Their competency was regularly assessed.

People were kept safe and staff were suitably trained in safeguarding principles and practice. There were no missed or significantly late calls evidenced during the inspection. No calls were shorter than the suggested good practice timescales and staff confirmed they had time to travel between visits to get to know people.

People’s capacity was assumed and staff acted in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Appropriate training was in place.

Staff worked well with external healthcare professionals to help meet people’s changing needs. Relatives and external professionals spoke of their confidence in the registered manager and staff team.

Staff at all levels delivered compassionate, person-centred care in line with the provider’s literature. Staff praised the dedication of the management team. They received formal and informal support.

Plans were in place for how the service would be managed should it grow.

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

Rating at last inspection: This is the first time we have inspected the service.

Why we inspected: We inspected the service in line with our scheduled programme of inspections.