Archived: Care Connect Wirral Limited

Updated 24 January 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on the 11 and 12 December 2018. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that the registered manager was available to assist us.

Both dates involved visiting the office, talking to staff and gaining the views of people who used the service about the support they received.

The inspection team consisted of one Adult Social Care Inspector.

Before our visit, we reviewed all the information we had in relation to the service. This included notifications, comments, concerns and safeguarding information. Our visit involved looking at eight care plans, training records, policies and procedures, medication systems and various audits relating to the quality of the service. In addition to this we gained the views of 13 people who used the service. We also spoke to a representative of the registered provider and 6 staff members.

We contacted two local authorities who routinely contract with the service. Both responded and told us that the registered provider had made improvements to the governance of the service.

As part of our inspection, we ask registered providers to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. A PIR was returned to us when we asked.

Updated 24 January 2019

We carried out an inspection of Care Connect Wirral on the 11 and 12 December 2018. The visit on both dates were announced.

The last inspection of this service was in March 2018. At that inspection the service was rated as requires improvement overall with well-led rated as inadequate. The service had been found to be in breach of regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 as the registered provider had not applied good governance to the service. As a result, the service was rated as “inadequate” in the well led question we ask.

In response to this we issued the service with a warning notice. A warning notice is designed to highlight to the service that improvements were required within a set timescale or more formal enforcement action would be taken. This visit found that the warning notice had now been complied with.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses in the community. It provides a service to predominantly older adults. The service at present provides support to people predominantly in the Ellesmere Port and Wirral area. Not everyone using Care Connect Wirral receives personal care; 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.

During this visit, the registered provider supported 111 people with their personal care. There was a registered manager. 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.

At this inspection we identified that the required improvements had been made. While no breaches were identified at this visit, we have rated the location as requiring improvement overall. This is because the registered provider needs to demonstrate a period of sustained good practice to achieve a rating of good.

Improvements had been made in the auditing processes within the service. Key documents such as care plans, risk assessments, recruitment records, notifications to CQC, medication and service user surveys were now checked with a view to embedding these within care practice.

Not all care plans person-centred. Some had additional information to present a person-centred approach. This had been recognised by the registered provider and a plan of action in place.

We have made a recommendation about the writing of daily records.

Some people commented that some timings of calls were not always on time but that these delays were not excessive and did not have an impact of their support.

People felt safe with the staff team. Staff were aware of the types of abuse that could occur and systems were in place to report these.

Staff provided support in a way which minimised the spread of infection.

The auditing of systems within the service now enabled lessons to be learned.

Staff received the training and supervision they needed to perform their role. New staff had a structured induction process to enable them to prepare for work.

The registered provider operated within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The capacity of people was taken into account during the assessment process.

People consented to the support they received.

People felt cared for and felt that staff treated them in a respectful manner. People’s personal information was kept confidential.

Information was available in alternative formats for those with communication needs.

A robust complaints procedure was in place. People told us that they knew how to make a complaint.

The registered provider co-operated with other agencies. The registered provider was aware of the requirements to put their most recent ratings on display.