HICA Homecare - Chorley

Not everyone using HICA Homecare receives a regulated activity; 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.

People's experience of using this service and what we found. People received safe care and were protected from avoidable harm by staff who had received training in safeguarding.

Care records included detailed information which helped staff support people to manage the risks. People we spoke with and their relatives hi-lighted how well protected they felt during the current pandemic. People told us staff used personal protective equipment at all times.

People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed. Some improvements in training and the management oversight of medicine records had led to improved practice. All medicine errors had been investigated and responded to fully which helped avoid the risk of reoccurrence.

The management team provided effective leadership and oversight of the service. Regular auditing of care records and spot checks on care practice helped to ensure people received good quality care which achieved good outcomes.

People living in the service and their relatives had been consulted with regularly to ensure their views were recognised and responded to. One example had been trying to ensure more consistent staffing to minimise the number of different staff visiting.

During the recent pandemic, more frequent consultations had taken place on a smaller scale. People had been supported to have visitors following government policy in relation to 'support bubbles'.

Staff felt committed to supporting people and felt valued by the management team.

The registered manager continued to work in close partnership with other agencies. Alternate ways of meeting and consulting with health professionals had been established.

Rating at the last inspection The last rating for this service was Good (published 13 February 2018)

Why we inspected We received concerns in relation to the management of medicines, complaints and governance. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe and Well Led only. We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.