Care Packages UK Limited

Care Packages UK Ltd is a domiciliary care service providing personal care for people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection seven people were receiving support from the service.

CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The provider did not always have effective systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. Current systems had not identified issues we found at inspection, for example in relation to missing details in one person’s care plan, recruitment and complaint procedures.

The majority of people and relatives raised concerns about either time of calls or short calls being experienced. Whilst people had not experienced harm the quality of their care had been compromised. The registered manager acknowledged that management reports to analyse call times and call lengths had not been completed.

The provider completed employment checks to ensure care staff were suitable to deliver care and support before they started work. They needed to strengthen the process further and ensure a full employment history was completed for all staff.

Safeguarding policies and procedures ensured people were protected from the risk of harm and abuse. People we spoke with told us they felt safe with the care staff who supported them. Where people were supported with medicines this had been provided safely.

Staff had received a robust induction and ongoing training, the care staff we spoke with felt they had effective knowledge and skills to support people. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People's needs had been assessed holistically and support plans developed to ensure people were supported effectively. People had been supported to maintain their health and wellbeing and had access to healthcare services when required.

People were supported by care staff who were caring and compassionate. Staff showed respect for people's rights, privacy, dignity and independence. People were supported by regular care staff to aid consistency of care and ensure positive relationships were maintained with people.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 12 May 2017).

Since this rating was awarded the service has moved premises. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to good governance.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Care Packages UK Limited provides personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting six people. We last inspected this service in January 2016 when the service was assessed overall as ‘Good’. Some improvements were needed to the system for monitoring the quality of the service and at this inspection we found these had been done.

At the time of the visit the service had 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 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Staff received training in recognising and reporting any signs of abuse. The registered manager had assessed and recorded the risks associated with people’s medical conditions

People told us and records confirmed that people received their calls at their chosen times and by the number of staff required to keep them safe.

People received their medicines safely by staff who were trained and had undertaken competency checks.

People were supported by staff knew people’s latest care needs. Staff reflected on their practice at regular informal and formal supervisions.

People told us and records showed that they were regularly involved in commenting on their care and choosing how they wanted to be supported.

People who required support to eat and drink said they were happy with the assistance they received. Staff knew what people liked to eat and drink.

People were supported to make use of the services of a variety of health professionals to receive the appropriate care promptly when needed.

People’s relatives told us that the registered manager and staff were caring. People were supported by the same staff who they liked.

People were approached to comment on the care they received and staff respected their wishes. People told us that the members of staff respected their privacy and independence.

People told us they felt comfortable to complain if something was not right. The registered manager had clear policies and procedures for dealing with complaints.

The registered manager had taken effective action to address concerns from our last inspection and understood their responsibilities to the Commission.

Staff told us that the registered manager and care co-ordinator were supportive and led the staff team well. Staff stated they enjoyed working at the service for several years.

There were systems in place to ensure people were involved in commenting on their care plans and influence the service they received.

People who used the service were involved in planning their care. They were supported to make choices about the care they received. A member of staff told us, 'I tell them what I am planning to do and they will tell me if it's OK.'

People, or their relatives, told us they were happy with the support the staff provided and that it met their needs. A relative of a person who used the service told us, 'The staff are very good. It's the same people and they know what [person's name] wants.'

The provider had robust recruitment procedures in place to ensure that people employed at the service were of good character and had the necessary skills, qualifications and knowledge to meet the needs of the people who used the service.

We saw that the provider supported the people who used the service and their relatives to comment on the quality of care people received.

People were protected from the risks of unsafe or inappropriate care and treatment

because records were kept up to date and could be easily accessed.

People told us that the workers caring for their relatives had a good manner, respected people's dignity and spoke to them as adults. One person who used the service told us they found the staff, 'Very caring and conscientious'.

Care was planned and designed to meet the individual health and welfare needs of the people who used the service. A relative we spoke to expressed confidence that their relative's care was planned, managed and delivered with dignity in the way that was promised.

We saw that the provider had made suitable arrangements to ensure that service users were safeguarded against the risk of abuse.

We found that care workers were skilled, qualified and competent to provide people with the care they required to meet their individual needs.

The provider was able to protect people from unsafe care and treatment by regularly assessing and monitoring the quality of the service provided. There were regular review meetings with the manager, people who use the service, their relatives and staff.