Trailblazer Social Care Ltd

When we inspected Trailblazer Social Care Ltd in August 2017 we found the service was in breach of regulation as they were not following safe systems for recruitment of staff. At this inspection we found the service had made sufficient improvement to achieve compliance.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to adults in the Calderdale area.

On the day of our inspection a registered manager was in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 had completed safeguarding adults training and knew how to keep people safe and report concerns. People's medicines were safely managed but some improvements were needed in relation to medication records.

People told us they felt safe due to the support they received from staff. Staff had a good understanding of how to support people safely and knew what to do if they had concerns about

people's safety.

Staff were recruited safely, although the registered manager agreed the process would benefit from further improvement. There were enough staff to provide people with the care and support they needed.

People and their relatives felt staff had appropriate skills and were competent. Staff had a good understanding of the people they supported and had access to ongoing training and supervision to support and improve their practice. Some people told us they struggled to understand some staff due to heavy or strong accents. The registered manager had enrolled the staff concerned on a course to improve their spoken English.

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 told us that they were involved in their care, and we saw examples of how people’s consent was sought. Not all the staff we spoke with had a good understanding of MCA. We have made a recommendation in this regard.

People and their relatives told us staff were caring and were mostly considerate of their privacy and dignity needs.

New systems had been developed to address issues raised by people in relation to inconsistency of their care team. People told us this had led to improvements.

Staff supported people with meals and drinks although one person told us they had to ask some staff to make them a drink.

We saw examples of how people were supported to access healthcare services to maintain their health and well-being.

People were involved in their care. They told us they were involved in their care planning and had a copy of their care plan.

People’s needs in relation to the protected characteristics under the Equalities Act 2010, were considered in the planning of their care. People's communication needs were assessed

People told us they would feel comfortable to raise issues or concerns and that the management team and staff were friendly and approachable. The registered manager appropriately investigated complaints and incidents

People, their relatives and staff were complimentary about the leadership and management of the service. There were several systems in place to monitor the quality of care.

This was the service’s first inspection since their registration with the Care Quality Commission on 17 May 2017.

Trailblazer Social Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care for adults. People who use this service have a wide range of needs including physical disabilities and older people who are living with a diagnosis of dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 23 people receiving support.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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.

During this inspection, we identified the service was breaching regulations regarding the recruitment of fit and proper persons. We looked at four application forms and found these did not have full employment dates recorded and the reasons for these omissions had not been investigated.

Risk assessments were not always relevant to the person and located appropriately in the care plan.

We recommend risk assessments are relevant and stored appropriately in care plans.

People who used the service told us they felt safe. Staff we spoke with told us they were aware of their role in safeguarding the people they supported and could demonstrate their understanding.

People felt staff had the skills to enable them to do a good job. People told us staff were caring and compassionate. Staff had been trained and demonstrated a good understanding of their role and responsibility. Staff told us they enjoyed working for the service.

Staff demonstrated an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act and were able to explain how this legislation related to their roles.

We recommend the MCA principles are consistently followed and care plans contain the newly completed MCA documentation.

Staff had received induction and mandatory training.

Staff had received training for the administration of medicines. The registered manager and staff we spoke to said they had received medicine competency checks to ensure they continued to have the right level of knowledge to enable the safe administration of medicines. There was not always the documentary evidence to support this.

People spoke positively of the care they received and felt staff had the skills to provide their care. One person and one relative stated they sometimes experienced difficulty in understanding staff accents. People’s privacy and dignity were maintained. Staff gave good examples of how they would implement this.

Care plans were in place and included a satisfactory level of information with life history records forming part of the overall plan.

People who used the service and their relatives spoke warmly about the registered manager and staff and the high level of care the company provided.

An improvement plan had started to be implemented by the provider.

There was a system in place to ensure the quality of the service people received was continually monitored. There was an action plan in place for to encourage more feedback to be given back to the service.

We found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.