Archived: Tamar (Leeds)

Updated 26 July 2022

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out 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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

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

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

What we did before the 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 (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 all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as calls to enable us to engage with people using the service, emails to staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. Inspection activity started on 20 June 2022 and ended 22 June 2022. We spoke with three staff, including the registered manager and one person that uses the service.

Updated 26 July 2022

About the service

Tamar Leeds is a domiciliary care agency and provides personal care and support to people who require assistance in their own home. At the time of our inspection five people were being supported by the service. 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

Medicines were not being administered to anyone at the time of inspection. The provider was strengthening processes around administration of medicines to ensure staff were sufficiently competent should they need to administer in the future.

Staff explained the provider carried out checks on the suitability of staff before they started work.

The providers systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service were being strengthened following feedback from an inspection of another location. We saw that the provider was working towards an action plan to drive improvements.

There were systems in place to minimise the risk of infection and to learn lessons from accidents and incidents.

Before people started to use the service, their individual needs and preferences were discussed and recorded for staff to follow. Staff had received training to reflect people's needs however some key training still needed to be completed.

People had support to prepare their meals and drinks where they needed this.

Staff and the registered manager worked effectively with community health and social care professionals to ensure people's needs were met.

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 complimentary about the care and support they received from staff.

There were some systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and recognise when improvements were required, However, these systems needed strengthening and embedding into practice. We have made a recommendation about this. Feedback about the service was in the process of being gathered formally. People knew how to raise issues or complaints and found the service responsive.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 08 August 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Follow up

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

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.