Samorem Health Care

Updated 27 January 2021

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. We gave four days' notice of the inspection because the service is small and sometimes the registered manager is out. We wanted to be assured they were in.

Inspection activity started on 12 January 2021 and ended on 15 January 2021. We visited the office location on 14 January 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included notifications about various incidents the provider must tell us about. 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 sought and received feedback from the local safeguarding authority, contracts' monitoring team and other professionals about their experience of the care provided. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person and one relative of people who used the service. We spoke with four staff including care staff and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records. We looked at one new staff recruitment file and records relating to training and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including staff meeting minutes, compliments, audits and feedback from people and relatives were also reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. The registered manager sent us medicines administration records and we looked at these as part of our inspection.

Updated 27 January 2021

About the service

Samorem Health Care is a domiciliary (home care) care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

At the time of our inspection there were six people using the service of which two received the regulated activity of personal care. 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 safeguarded from harm and the risk of this by trained and knowledgeable staff. Risks to people and staff were identified and managed. Sufficient staff with appropriate skills were recruited safely. Staff demonstrated effective practise in preventing the risk of, or control of, infections. One person told us, “[Staff] always wear their personal protective equipment (PPE) and they take it away with them."

Due to restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic, the registered manager used video technology to train staff in practical ways such as the use of PPE to increase their competence. Staff had relevant training and skills. However, not all staff training and also what the training consisted of had been recorded. The registered manager took action to address this.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were supported to eat and drink enough and have access healthcare services. The provider and its staff worked well with others involved in people's care.

People's care was person centred and people were able to have others involved in their care. Staff were creative and adapted their approach to people's different communication skills. People's concerns were acted on before they became a complaint. There were policies and procedures to support people with end of life care if needed.

The registered manager was aware of their responsibilities. They supported staff in their role and acted on feedback from people, relatives and staff. Most audits were effective in identifying areas requiring improvement. The provider took learning onboard to drive improvement. The provider worked well with others to help ensure people received joined up care.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 16 May 2019) and there were multiple breaches of regulation.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 25 April 2019 and breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment, staff recruitment and the effectiveness of the provider's quality assurance.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions: Is the service Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well-led questions, which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. 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 Samorem Health Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

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.