Archived: Merit Home Care Limited

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

The agency has a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Staff knew how to respond to any possible incident of harm and how to reduce risks to people. There were enough staff who had been recruited properly to make sure they were suitable to work with people. Medicines were stored and administered safely.

People were cared for by staff who had received the appropriate training and had the skills and support to carry out their roles. Staff members understood and complied with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People received a choice of meals and staff supported them to eat and drink enough. Staff had enough information to refer people to health care professionals if this was required.

Staff were caring and kind and treated people with respect. People were listened to and were involved in their care and what they did on a day to day basis. People’s right to privacy was maintained by the actions and care given by staff members.

People’s personal and health care needs were met and care records guided staff in how to do this. Complaints were investigated and responded to and people knew who to speak with if they had concerns.

Staff worked well together and felt supported by the management team. The monitoring process looked at records, identified issues and staff took the appropriate action to resolve these.

Further information is in the detailed findings below

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary describes the number of different methods we used to help us understand the experiences of people who used the service.

During our inspection we looked at three out of 24 copies of people's care records held in the office. We saw the provider's policies and procedures; we spoke with three out of 24 people who used the service by telephone on 18 September 2014, three members of staff face to face. We also spoke with the registered manager and the care co-ordinator.

If you want to see the evidence that supports our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

In the care records we looked at we saw that risk assessments regarding people's individual health, care and support were completed. We saw that measures were in place to minimise risks whilst supporting a person's right to live as independent a life as possible. However, two out of three care records we examined had missing risk assessments for risks that had been assessed. We have asked the provider to tell us how they will make the improvements required to ensure that all records for people using the service are complete.

We looked at three staff recruitment records and these showed us that pre-employment safety checks to ensure that staff were of a good character and deemed suitable to work with vulnerable adults had taken place.

Is the service effective?

People's support and care needs had been assessed and plans were in place within the care records we looked at. The three staff members we spoke with were able to demonstrate their knowledge regarding people who used the service including their individual care and support needs.

We looked at four staff training records and these indicated to us that staff were trained to deliver safe care and support. However, the provider may find it useful to note that we found that one out of the four staff records we looked at had no documented evidence that the staff member had undertaken induction training when they first started to work at Cozycare Limited. This was confirmed to us on speaking to the staff member.

Is the service caring?

People we spoke with had positive comments about the care and support they received from staff. One person told us that staff were, 'Very good ' no complaints.' Another person we spoke with said that staff were, 'Brilliant. (They) do their job and are pleasant about it.'

Care records we looked at demonstrated to us that people were supported to live as independent a life as possible with assistance from staff. We found that people's individual needs were recorded to protect and promote a person's human rights.

Is the service responsive?

The provider gave people and their relatives the opportunity to raise any concerns that they may have. We saw that the provider responded to written and verbal complaints made in a timely manner.

Is the service well-led?

People who used the service, their relatives and staff members were given the opportunity to feedback on the quality of service provided. Results of this feedback were mainly positive about the quality of service provided.

The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided on an on-going basis. However, we found that not all care records we looked at were a complete record to guide staff to support people safely and maintain their well-being. These inaccuracies had not been found by the provider's on-going quality monitoring process. We have asked the provider to tell us how they will make the improvements required.