Starline 2000

Updated 7 March 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

Starline 2000 is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

Inspection activity started on 15 November and ended on 15 December 2022. When we announced the inspection, we requested for people’s care plans to be sent and a range of monitoring information. Some client records were sent however we received no monitoring information despite calling and speaking with the registered manager. We tried to visit the location on two occasions, but we were not granted access due to building works been carried out at the location. We visited the office location on 12 December. We made calls to people and their relatives on 13 and 14 of December. We gave feedback to the provider on 15 December 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed the previous inspection report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed a range of records related to five people’s care and support. This included people’s care plans, risk assessments, medicines records for one person and four staff files in relation to recruitment and training. We reviewed records related to the management of the service, which included training records, safeguarding incidents, and complaints. We spoke with the registered manager and nominated individual (NI). The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We contacted two care workers by telephone and a questionnaire was sent to staff. We contacted two professionals, but we did not receive a response. We spoke with three relatives of people receiving care. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found after the inspection. We looked at further records, policies, and procedures.

Updated 7 March 2023

About the service

Starline 2000 is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting eight people.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. In this service, the Care Quality Commission can only inspect the service received by people who get support with personal care. This includes help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people receive such support, we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

Risks faced by people were assessed but the registered manager did not always record the correct information to give staff clear guidance to mitigate risks. One person’s medicines had not always been correctly recorded.

People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not always support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not always support this practice.

There were monitoring and auditing systems in place However, these were not always effective. The provider did not always have robust procedures in place for managing the service. The provider did not send in notifications in a timely way. Registered providers must notify us about certain changes, events and incidents that affect their service or people who use the service.

People felt protected from the risk of harm. Staff had access to training which was appropriate to their role. There were safe recruitment practices in place. Staff knew how to report safeguarding concerns. People were assessed prior to care packages starting. People and their relatives had been involved in the care planning process. Relatives told us that people were treated with dignity and respect. They were also positive about the staff, and they told us that staff were kind and caring.

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 26 July 2019)

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to consent and good governance. We made three recommendations to the provider to review their practice to ensure they were assessing risk, administering medicines safely and following their supervision policy.

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 from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.