Date of assessment: 20 April to 20 July 2024. The service is a care at home agency that provides personal care to people living in their own homes. CQC only inspects where people are receiving the regulated activity personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we consider any wider social care provided. This service is registered to support autistic people or people with a learning disability. We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. A local authority told us the provider had stopped engaging in a quality assurance process and failed to provide requested information. However, people were protected and kept safe, and staff worked with other professionals involved in their care. Managers acted to address incidents and concerns. Staff managed risks to people. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications, and experience. Staff received the training and support they required to deliver high quality care. People were treated with kindness and were involved in assessments of needs and making decisions about their care. Staff protected people’s privacy and dignity and respected their choices. The service provided information people could understand. People knew how to give feedback and were confident the service took it seriously. People received fair and equal care and treatment. The provider supported staff wellbeing. Staff felt able to give feedback and were treated equally. We assessed a small number of quality statements from the safe and well-led key questions and found areas of good practice. The scores for these areas have been combined with scores based on the key question ratings from the last comprehensive inspection.
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Snowball Care UK Ltd is a domiciliary care agency rated Good overall across Safe, Effective and Well-led at its October 2023 inspection, improving from a previous Requires Improvement rating. The service demonstrated strong person-centred care, robust medicines management, effective staff training and open leadership with no failure themes identified.
Strengths
· People felt safe and had consistent carers; risk assessments and management plans were regularly reviewed and updated.
· Robust pre-employment and DBS checks ensured suitable staff recruitment.
· Medicines administration records were accurate, regularly audited and had no unexplained gaps; senior staff observed competency in the field.
· Staff received Care Certificate induction, regular training with competency assessments, supervision and annual appraisals.
· Personalised, accessible care plans were co-produced with people and relatives to support informed choice.
Quality-Statement breakdown (16)
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementGood
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseGood
safe: Using medicines safelyGood
safe: Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionGood
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the lawGood
effective: Staff support: induction, training, skills and experienceGood
effective: Supporting people to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced dietGood
effective: Supporting people to live healthier lives, access healthcare services and supportGood
effective: Ensuring consent to care and treatment in line with law and guidanceGood
well-led: Managers and staff being clear about their roles, and understanding quality performance, risks and regulatory requirementsGood
well-led: Promoting a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive and empoweringGood
well-led: Engaging and involving people using the service, the public and staffGood
well-led: How the provider understands and acts on the duty of candourGood
This was a targeted inspection of Snowball Care UK Ltd focused on risk assessments, safeguarding, and recruitment, prompted by information of concern. The service was inspected but not rated; the previous overall rating of requires improvement remains unchanged, with positive findings on risk management, staffing, and recruitment practices.
Strengths
· Risks to people were assessed and reviewed when changes in their health or care needs occurred
· Risk management plans had enough detail and guidance for staff to manage risks safely, including specific choking risk plans
· Each person had a home environmental risk assessment in place
· Staff understood the provider's safeguarding policy and procedures to follow to keep people safe from harm
· Recruitment processes ensured suitable people were employed, including references, right to work, and DBS checks
Quality-Statement breakdown (2)
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementNot rated