VHM Care Ltd

VHM Care Limited provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. It provides support to older people and younger adults with physical disabilities, learning difficulties, sensory impairments, mental health and people living with dementia. At the time of the inspection 12 people were receiving personal care.

People's experience of using this service:

VHM Care Limited has been registered with the CQC for one year. The service did not start supporting people with personal care in their own home until mid-December 2018. People were often referred from hospital for a six-week period to support people with rehabilitation. People and relatives were very positive about their experiences to date. People told us that the service was very professional, and they felt confident with the care and support from staff.

The registered manager had not notified the CQC of a significant safeguarding and this is an area that requires improvement.

People's care documentation did not always record information about people's preferences in relation to their interests, hobbies, religious needs and end of life care wishes.

Opportunities to continuously learn, improve and innovate were not always evident as quality assurance systems had not been fully embedded. This included gathering feedback from people, staff, relatives and professionals about their experiences of the service to drive improvement.

People told us they felt safe and knew who to contact if they had any concerns. Systems supported people to stay safe and reduce the risks to them. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse and what action to take to keep people safe. There was enough staff to support people safely and the registered manager had safe recruitment procedures and processes in place. A relative told us, "The service is responsive, the staff seem nice, approachable and polite. They always check my loved one's home is safe."

People received their medicines safely and on time. Staff were trained in administering medicines. People knew what their medication was for and told us they felt reassured by the support with their medicines. People were protected by the prevention and control of infection. Staff wore gloves and aprons when supporting people.

People were supported to maintain their health and had support to access health care services when they needed to. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People received kind and compassionate care. People and relatives told us that staff treated them with kindness and we observed friendly interactions when attending a care visit. One person told us, "I have never had care before and it is better than I expected."

People received person centred care that was responsive to their needs and people and relatives knew how to raise a complaint.

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