Bela Homecare

Updated 7 March 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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 homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing support to people who required assistance due to frailty due to age, physical disability, or living with dementia.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

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 registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 18 January 2023 and ended on 25 January 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the service was registered in November 2021. We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 20 September 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We also 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

During our monitoring activity in September 2022 people shared their experiences about their care. We followed up on this feedback by having telephone calls with 3 relatives about their latest experience of the support provided. We also spoke with 3 members of staff and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care records and the staff files for 3 members of staff. We looked at how staff had been recruited, trained and supervised.

Updated 7 March 2023

About the service

Bela Homecare is a domiciliary care agency that provides support to people living in their own homes. 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. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. There were 7 people receiving the regulated activity of personal care at the time of our inspection.

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

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.

Feedback was consistently positive about the service people received. People were safe, valued and cared for. Relatives praised the support that their loved ones received and expressed how they had confidence in the registered manager and her team.

There were good systems in place to keep people safe. Risks had been appropriately assessed and action taken to safeguard people from the risk of abuse or avoidable harm.

Enough staff were employed to meet the needs of the people who received personal support. People were supported by a regular and reliable team of staff who knew them well. Staff were kind and caring in their approach and had developed good relationships with both people and their families. Staff promoted people’s privacy and dignity and encouraged them to retain their independence.

Appropriate steps were taken to ensure staff were suitably vetted prior to appointment. Recruitment was safe and training and support was ongoing to ensure staff had the skills and experience to undertake their roles effectively.

Each person was assessed prior to the commencement of care, from which a personalised plan of care was devised. Support was provided flexibly and regularly reviewed to ensure it remained responsive to people’s changing needs.

There were good systems in place to keep people healthy, hydrated and ensure medicines were administered as prescribed.

The registered manager was committed to delivering high quality support and had a clear vision of growing the business, without compromising on quality. Quality assurance and governance systems ensured ongoing monitoring and improvement.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

This service was registered with us on 8 November 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection to look at the overall safety and quality of the service and to provide a rating.

Follow up

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