We carried out a review of the data available to us about Person Centered Care Northants on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Person Centered Care Northants, you can give feedback on this service.
Person Centered Care Northants is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to younger adults, living with physical disability or learning disabilities and autistic spectrum disorder. People are supported in their own houses. At the time of our inspection there were nine people using the service.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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
Recruitment procedures were under review at the time of our inspection. Following our inspection, the registered manager provided evidence that they would be completing more robust checks on the suitability of staff. We saw no evidence that people had been at risk of harm because staff had been reference checked and had current DBS checks in place.
Staff had received training in how to protect people from abuse and knew how to report concerns. Medicines were managed safely and people were protected from the risk of infection by the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and good hygiene practices.
There were enough suitably trained staff available to meet people’s needs and provide person centred care. People’s choices and preferences were considered and respected in the assessment and care planning process. End of life decisions were not routinely discussed and we have recommended that the provider consider current guidance around this. However, staff were trained in supporting people at the end of their life and had access to professional guidance when needed.
People were supported to access health care services when they needed to. The staff and management team worked well in partnership with other professionals and feedback from professionals was positive.
The registered manager and provider had good oversight of the quality of the service. There was a culture of continued learning and improvement and we found the registered manager had been open and transparent when things had gone wrong. We also found they had a good understanding of their responsibilities and the regulatory requirements.
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.
The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion.
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 requires improvement (published 21 August 2018).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
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. At the time of inspection, the provider was supporting 10 people with personal care.
Not everyone using Person Centered Care Northants receives regulated activity; 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.
There was a registered manager in post, they were also the provider. 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 our last inspection on the 29 April 2016, we rated the service "Good." At this inspection we found that the service 'Required Improvement.'
Improvements were required to the systems in place to ensure the effective governance and management of the service. The provider had not ensured that the necessary documentation was in place to provide staff with information on environmental risks in people’s homes and guide them in how to support people safely in an emergency. Some policies and procedures were not in place as needed. Policies and procedures that were in place required review.
People told us that they felt comfortable and safe with the staff team who visited them. Relatives agreed their relatives were supported in a safe way by the staff who were allocated to provide their support.
Staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe from harm and to report potential risks to their safety.
People received their medicines as prescribed and staff supported people to access support from healthcare professionals when required. The service worked with other organisations to ensure that people received coordinated and person-centred care and support.
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 were involved in their own care planning and were able to contribute to the way in which they were supported.
Staff treated people with kindness, dignity and respect and spent time getting to know them and their specific needs and wishes.
Staff recruitment procedures ensured that appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out to ensure only suitable staff worked at the service. Staffing levels ensured that people's care and support needs were safely met.
Staff induction training and on-going training was provided to ensure that staff had the skills, knowledge and support they needed to perform their roles. Staff were well supported by the provider and senior staff, and had regular supervision meetings.
Staff told us they had the appropriate personal protective equipment to perform their roles safely. Staff supported people in a way which prevented the spread of infection.
The provider had a process in place which ensured people could raise any complaints or concerns.
There were arrangements in place for the service to make sure that action was taken and lessons learned when things went wrong, to improve safety across the service.
Further information is in the detailed findings below.
Person Centred Care is a small domiciliary care agency that provides care and support to adults with a wide range of needs, including people with physical and mental health needs. Staff are provided to enable people living at home to retain their independence and continue living in the community.
When we inspected the service provided care and support to 14 people. The service is predominantly provided to people living in the Kettering, Wellingborough and Rushden areas of Northamptonshire.
A registered manager was in post. 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.
People benefited from receiving support from staff that were caring, friendly, and responsive to people’s changing needs. People were supported in their own homes by trained staff that were able to meet their needs safely. Staff were able to demonstrate that they understood what was required of them to provide people with the safe care they needed to remain living at home.
People’s care plans reflected their needs and choices about how they preferred their care and support to be provided. People were treated with dignity and their right to make day-to-day choices about how they preferred their care to be provided was respected.
There were sufficient numbers of staff employed to meet people’s assessed needs. People were protected from the risks associated with the recruitment of staff unsuited to the role by robust recruitment systems. Risk assessments were also in place to reduce and manage the risks to people’s health and welfare.
People benefitted from a service that was appropriately managed so that people received their service in a timely and reliable way. People had been kept informed in a timely way whenever staff were unavoidably delayed, or when another member of staff had to be substituted at short notice.
There were systems in place in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service and where appropriate and necessary people’s relatives or significant others were consulted about the service people received. People’s rights were protected. People knew how to raise concerns and complaints. There were procedures in place to ensure complaints were appropriately investigated and action was taken to make improvements to the service when necessary.
At the time of our inspection the Provider was delivering personal care services to only one person. This was a 24 hour care package over seven days of the week. We looked through the care plan and we spoke with members of staff.
The mother of the person who used services told us, 'I am very happy with things. Everything is running smoothly.'
We saw that the care plan was based on the assessed needs and requirements of the person using the service. The care plan was detailed and took account of individual needs and how these would be supported.
The Provider had clear recruitment policies in place and we saw that they had been applied appropriately. We also saw that the Provider's policy and procedures for managing Quality Assurance would benefit from review and updating. However, we saw that the practical systems in place did mean that services were reviewed and any concerns were managed appropriately.