About the service:

Academy Homecare Services is a domiciliary care service based in Kingswinford, a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. It provides care to people within their own homes, predominantly in the surrounding areas of Kingswinford. The service is operated by the provider, Academy Homecare Services Limited. At the time of the inspection there were 85 people using the service. The majority of those were receiving traditional packages of homecare support but some people were in receipt of reablement support, potentially for a short period of time, as commissioned by the local authority.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿ The service continued to be good in all areas and this was reflected in the feedback we received from both people who used the service and their relatives.

¿ People receiving a service said they felt safe, with staff demonstrating a good understanding about how to protect people from the risk of harm.

¿ Staff were recruited safely, with appropriate checks carried out to ensure there were no risks presented to people using the service.

¿ There were enough staff to care for people safely and people told us staff always arrived to deliver their care. When staff were going to be late they were kept informed by the service.

¿ People received their medication as prescribed where this support was required.

¿ Staff received the training and support they needed to carry out their roles competently. They had regular supervisions and annual appraisals and received good support from management. This enabled staff to provide safe and effective care for people.

¿ People received the support they required to eat and drink at meal times. Staff recognised the importance of food and fluids and encouraged people with these to promote good health and well-being.

¿ People who used the service and relatives made positive comments about the care provided. The feedback we received from people we spoke with was that staff were patient, kind and caring in their approach. People told us that staff often went over and above what was required of them.

¿ People were treated with dignity and respect and staff promoted their independence as required.

¿ People knew how to make a complaint. There was a complaints process in place. No formal complaints had been received at the time of this inspection although we saw that some concerns raised with management informally had been addressed.

¿ Appropriate systems were in place to monitor the quality of service being provided, with a variety of audits, spot checks, reviews and competency assessments used to check the quality of service being provided.

¿ We received positive feedback about the management and leadership of the agency. Everybody we spoke with said they would recommend the service. Staff said they felt valued and supported and could approach the registered manager and care manager with any concerns they had.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection of Academy Homecare Services the service was rated good (published 16 May 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information and intelligence we receive about the service to ensure good quality care is provided to people. We will return to re-inspect in line with our inspection timescales for ‘Good’ rated services, however if any further information of concern is received, we may inspect sooner.

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

We completed this inspection to check the care and welfare of people that received a service. We told the provider we were visiting two days in advance. This was so that the people we needed to speak with were available. As part of this inspection we spoke with care workers, managers, people who received a service and relatives.

People were very pleased with the service they received. They told us that care workers were caring and treated them with respect. People said they received the care in the way they wanted and at the time they had agreed. Comments included: "Very happy. Every time they do what I want. I couldn't have a better service" and "I am satisfied. I would recommend them".

The provider fully explained the service to people and sought their consent before providing a service. People's wishes and preferences were acted upon.

Care workers were appropriately supervised and supported to provide people with care to an appropriate standard. Care workers received the necessary training to provide people's care.

Systems were in place to gain the views of people who received a service. These views were acted upon to improve their care. The provider was checking and monitoring the quality of care people received. When shortfalls were identified these were addressed.

We carried out this inspection to check on the care and welfare of people. We carried out telephone interviews with three people who received services, three members of staff and three relatives.

People told us that staff respected their privacy, dignity and independence. One person said, “Staff always knock before entering and close the door when doing personal care so my family can’t see me”.

Relatives told us that staff were caring and kind. Care was delivered in a personal way and people were happy with the care they received.

Staff told us they knew what abuse was and gave examples of different forms of abuse and how to report abuse. Records showed that staff had received training in recognising abuse and the process to follow in reporting abuse. One person said, “I do feel safe, I always have the same staff”.

Records showed that the provider had a process in place to ensure the appropriate staff were recruited as part of keeping people safe.

Relatives told us they were able to give their views on the service people received. Records showed that the provider had a system in place to give people the opportunity to share their views.

The inspection took place on the 7 and 8 March 2016 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice that we would be visiting the service. This was because the service provides domiciliary care and we wanted to be sure that the manager and staff would be available. The last inspection was carried out on the 13 February 2014 and the provider met all the regulations inspected.

Academy Homecare Service is registered to provide personal care services to people in their own homes. People who use the services may have a physical disability, dementia, mental health or a sensory impairment. On the day of the inspection there were 96 people receiving support from the service in their home. There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act (2008) and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Care staff knew how to keep people safe. People using the service told us they felt safe. Medicines were being managed safely and staff knew how to support people appropriately with their medicines.

People’s consent was being sought in line with the Mental Capacity Act (2005). People were not being deprived of their human rights and their independence, privacy and dignity was respected.

We found that the appropriate support was in place to ensure staff had the appropriate skills and knowledge to provide people the support they needed.

The provider had enough care staff to support people and people’s needs were being met how they wanted.

The provider ensured an assessment of people’s support needs was carried out and a care plan was developed to identify how people’s needs would be delivered. People were involved in the decisions about how their support was provided in line with their wishes.

The provider had a complaints process to enable people to share any concerns they had about the service they received.

The provider ensured audits and checks were carried out to ensure the quality of the service people received was to an appropriate standard. People were able to share their views by way of completing a questionnaire about the quality of the service. The provider took appropriate action to analyse and make improvements where appropriate.