About the service:

’36-40 Copperfield Road’ is a domiciliary care service which provides care and support to adults and children with disabilities in their own homes. At the time of this inspection the service was providing personal care to three children.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People’s relatives told us that their family members were well cared for and treated with kindness and respect. Children were consistently supported by the same care worker.

• Care workers interacted well with family members and respected their routines. Care was planned and delivered to meet children’s needs and to provide support for their parents.

• The provider had improved systems for safeguarding children, including raising awareness of child abuse and neglect and understanding how to report suspected abuse.

• Care workers were recruited in line with safer recruitment processes. Families told us staff members arrived on time.

• Staff received suitable training and supervision to carry out their roles and the registered manager checked their competency regularly.

• Family members told us that in the past they had care workers who were less effective and caring but that there had been improvements in the past year.

• The provider obtained consent from children’s parents to provide care but had not yet explored how children may be able to make decisions when they reached adulthood.

• The registered manager had suitable systems to monitor the performance of care workers and ensure that families were happy with the quality of care.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection in April 2018 this service was rated ‘requires improvement’. Breaches of regulations were found in relation to safeguarding service users from abuse and ensuring fit and proper persons were employed. Following the last inspection we asked the provider to complete an action plan to show what they would do and by when to ensure that they were meeting these regulations.

Why we inspected:

This was a routine inspection. We carried this out to check the provider had met their action plan.

Follow up:

The service was rated ‘good’. We will continue to monitor information and intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection guidelines. We may inspect sooner if any concerning information is received.

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

This inspection took place on 16 April 2018 and was announced. We gave the provider five days notice of the inspection visit because the registered manager told us they would be out of the office and we had to wait until their return. This was our first inspection of the service since the provider registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in April 2017.

Ashton Care Limited is registered as a domiciliary care agency. The service provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community to older people and children. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection, two children with special educational needs and disabilities were receiving support with their personal care needs.

The service had a registered manager in post who was available on the day of the 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.

Although there was information was in place to safeguard people from abuse, the correct child protection reporting procedures were not followed to protect people from harm. Assessments of potential risks were clear and included measures to reduce the likelihood of harm.

Pre-employment checks were not completed thoroughly to ensure the suitability of the staff employed. Staff told us they had access to appropriate training to meet the needs of people who used the service.

Care plans were tailored to meet people’s individual needs. They had a good emphasis on personalised care and reviews of people’s needs were carried out regularly.

Relatives told us their family members were supported by caring staff who knew them well. Care workers supported people with personal care respectfully and with discretion.

Although staff did not support people with their medicines they had received training in safe management of their medicines. People had access to healthcare services to support then with their medical needs. People’s nutritional needs were met and their food preferences were documented in their records.

The provider sought parental consent before people received their care and support.

Parents were informed about how to raise a complaint and told us they had no concerns about the service.

There was a programme of regular audits. The provider sought people’s feedback to improve the way care was delivered. Parents and staff spoke positively about the approachable nature of the registered manager.

We found two breaches of regulation in relation to safeguarding service users from abuse and fit and proper persons employed. You can see what action we asked the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.