Background to this inspection
Updated
23 October 2020
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
The inspection site visit was carried out by one inspector. An Expert by Experience made telephone calls to people and their relatives to obtain their views. 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 and specialist housing.
The service did not have a registered manager at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC to manage the service. 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. A manager started at the service the day before the inspection.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 15 September 2020 and ended on 21 September 2020. We visited the office location on 15 September 2020.
What we did before inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with three members of staff including the manager, quality manager and care coordinator. An Expert by Experience spoke with 11 people and three relatives by telephone to obtain their feedback.
We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with four care staff by telephone. We also spoke with two health and social care professionals who have worked with the service.
Updated
23 October 2020
Allied Health-Services Bournemouth is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection 60 people were receiving care and support from 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
At our last inspection we made recommendations on how the service could improve the experience for people.
The recommendations included ensuring there were enough staff to cover the geographical area so people received a consistent and reliable service and had the time agreed in their care plan, Embedding a proactive approach to anticipating and managing risks to people that staff understood. Also ensuring effective systems, policies and procedures were in place to ensure safeguarding concerns were identified and managed promptly. The provider had made improvements.
People told us they received their prescribed medicines on time. Their medicines plans were more detailed which meant medicines were managed safely.
There was an ongoing programme of improving people’s care plans to make them more detailed in terms of their needs and how staff worked with people and relevant others to manage risks. Updated plans had enhanced explanations of how staff could support people to stay safe.
Staff had enough personal protective equipment to help keep themselves and people they supported safe from infection. Spot checks were undertaken to ensure staff wore this appropriately and in line with government guidance.
There was ongoing improvement to oversight of the service. This included a manager who started the day prior to the inspection.
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 12 March 2020) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The previous registered manager completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to meet the regulations. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and they were no longer in breach of the regulations we looked at.
The service remains requires improvement. The service has been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 9 January 2020. Breaches of legal requirements were found.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had met legal requirements in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led 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 remained requires improvement. 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 Allied Health Services - Bournemouth on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect again.