About the service:

Care2Home Ltd. is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 31 people with their personal care, most of whom have a disability or are living with dementia.

People’s experience of using this service:

People and their relatives consistently told us they were happy with the way the care and support was delivered and were positive about the staff team. Typical comments included “My relative always gets the same carer who goes over and above and does extra tasks” and “The carers are all very kind and caring.”

People told us they felt safe being supported by the staff team and staff had a good awareness of how to protect people from harm and potential abuse. Checks on new staff were carried out to make sure they were suitable for this type of work and people received the right medication at the right time.

The provider ensured staff received training to enable them to carry out their roles effectively. Staff were proactive in monitoring and promoting people’s health and ensured that healthcare professionals were involved in assessing and planning for people’s health needs. People were supported to eat and drink when they needed this help.

People received care and support from a consistent team of staff who knew people well and understood how best to communicate with people. People’s individual preferences were known and respected and people had the opportunity to make choices about their daily life.

The provider had effective systems in place to respond to complaints and people and their relatives were happy that their concerns were listened to. Care and support was changed when people’s needs changed to ensure people received care that was up to date.

The registered manager had promoted a strong sense of person centred care amongst the staff team and feedback indicated that people, relatives and staff were happy with the way the service was being led. Staff performance was closely monitored and audits were carried out to check the quality of the service. The service was well organised and ran smoothly to ensure staff had the time to spend delivering care that was not rushed.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (report published 19 October 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection to check the service remained good.

Follow up:

We will also continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information 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

This inspection took place on the 13 September 2016 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice that we would be visiting. This was because the provider offers a supported service to people living in their own homes and we wanted to make sure that people and staff would be available to speak with us.

Care2Home Ltd (known as Heritage Healthcare (Solihull) is a community based adult social care service, registered to provide personal care for persons within their own home. They currently provide a service to six people.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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.

Care2Home Ltd (known as Heritage Healthcare Solihull) became a registered provider on 24 March 2016 and this was their first ratings inspection.

People were kept safe. Relatives believed their family members were kept safe. Staff had received training and understood the different types of abuse and knew what action they would take if they thought a person was at risk of harm. Staff were provided with sufficient guidance on how to support people’s medical support needs. People were kept safe by staff that were able to recognise the signs of abuse and raise concerns if needed.

People were supported to have their medical needs met.

People were supported by staff that had been safely recruited.

People were supported with their medication by staff that had received appropriate training.

Relatives felt that their family members were being supported by staff with the appropriate skills and knowledge to care and support them.

Staff were trained and supported so that they had the knowledge and skills to enable them to care for people in a way that met their individual needs and preferences.

People were supported to make choices and were involved in the care and support they received.

Staff had an awareness of the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding (DoLS).

Staff were caring and treated people with dignity and respect. People’s choices and independence was respected and promoted and staff responded to people’s support needs.

People and relatives felt they could speak with the provider about their worries or concerns and felt they would be listened to and have their concerns addressed.

The provider had quality assurance and audit systems in place to monitor the care and support people received to ensure the service remained consistent and effective.