Amberley Care

Updated 13 November 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

The inspection was carried out by an inspector. An Expert by Experience supported the inspection and made phone calls to people who used the service 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 homes.

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 the service 40 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 26 September 2019 and ended on 30 September 2019. We visited the office location on 26 September 2019.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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

We visited two people and a relative in their own homes to obtain their views of their care and support and spoke with the registered manager who was also the owner of the service. We spoke with fifteen people and relatives on the telephone to gather their views.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision and records relating to the management of the service such as quality audits and surveys.

After the inspection

We spoke with one care professional and received written feedback from second care professional who have been involved with the service and four staff members by telephone.

Updated 13 November 2019

About the service

Amberley Care is a care service providing personal care to people on permanent packages of care in their own homes as well as reablement support for people returning home from hospital. 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. 57 people were receiving personal care. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

The registered manager had developed a range of quality monitoring systems, such as surveys and audits, and feedback was used to help drive improvement. People, relatives and care professionals spoke highly of the registered manager. Staff felt very well supported by the registered manager who was approachable and available for support and guidance.

People and relatives consistently told us about the excellent care they received. Staff were exceptionally patient, kind and thoughtful, going the extra mile to support them. People thought of staff as their friends and felt valued and respected. People felt listened to and fully involved in decisions about their care and were encouraged to be as independent as possible.

People and relatives told us they felt safe and confident in the care they received from staff. Robust recruitment processes were in place to ensure suitable staff were employed. Visit rotas enabled staff to spend time with people and were never rushed. Risks to people’s health and wellbeing had been identified and measures were in place to minimise risks. Incidents were dealt with immediately by the registered manager and any information or learning was shared with staff. Medicines were well managed and staff received training in medicines' administration and on-going assessment of their competency.

People were supported to access healthcare services to maintain their health and wellbeing when required. People chose what they wanted to eat each day and staff prepared the meals for them. Staff obtained consent from people for day to day decisions. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives.

Everyone supported by Amberley Care had the mental capacity to make their own decisions, so no one required decisions to be made in their best interests.

Staff knew people very well including their likes, dislikes, preferences and wishes and were responsive to their care and support needs. People and relatives knew how to make a complaint if they needed to and felt confident it would be addressed.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (Published 16 January 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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