Combe Home Care Ltd

Updated 8 August 2019

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed 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.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

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 in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 4 July and ended on 25 July 2019. We visited the office location on 4 July.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We looked at all the information we held about this service including any notifications. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We visited the registered office and spoke with the registered manager, one director and one member of staff. We reviewed three care plans and associated risk assessments. We looked at three staff recruitment and training files.. We also looked at accident and incidents and documents relating to quality assurance. This helps us to understand how well the service was being run.

We visited three people with their own homes to talk about their experience of receiving care and support from Coombe Homecare. We spoke with three more by phone.

We spoke with two staff via phone following our visits.

After the inspection –

We sought feedback from three healthcare professionals and received information back from one.

Updated 8 August 2019

About the service

Coombe Homecare is a domiciliary agency providing personal care to people 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.

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

People and their relatives were complimentary about the care and support they received from Coombe Homecare. One said, “I was so grateful for the support you gave me- what would we do without you.”

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 protected because risks had been assessed and any measures needed to mitigate these were fully documented. Medicines were being safely managed.

People were supported where needed to maintain good nutrition. People’s health and emotional wellbeing was closely monitored and responded to when needed. Staff worked in partnership with other agencies to achieve the best outcomes for people

Staff were knowledgeable about people’s needs and wishes. People were treated with respect and their dignity and privacy was upheld.

The service had an open and inclusive culture, complaints were taken seriously. People and staff voice mattered, and the registered manager looked for ways to capture this.

There were quality assurance systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided.

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 12/07/2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection in line with our guidance to be completed within one year of the service registration.

Follow up

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