24/7 Staffing Support Kettering

24/7 Staffing Support Kettering is a domiciliary care service. They provide personal care to adults and older people living in their own homes or individual flats.

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. At the time of the inspection 43 people were receiving personal care.

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

People were supported safely by staff. People's needs and risks were assessed and managed. People’s care plans were comprehensive and personalised with their range of needs and abilities which promoted their safety and wellbeing. People received the support they required with their medicines.

Systems were in place to ensure staff were trained and understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Recruitment procedures needed to be strengthened to ensure suitable staff were employed to support people. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People received care and support from staff who knew them well and understood their individual needs and preferences.

Staff were supported through ongoing training and supervisions. The provider assured us training in learning disability and autism would be completed by all staff and management. Information was shared with staff to support in the delivery of good quality care

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.

Quality assurance systems were used effectively to monitor all aspects of the service provision and to drive improvements. The registered manager was responsive to feedback and agreed to strengthening the recruitment processes, training and audits. People were involved in the review of their care and their equality and diversity needs were considered and respected. Feedback about the quality of service was sought from people, their relatives and staff and used to make improvements.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 11 October 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about risk to people and staff training. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks and reviewed the key questions of Safe and Well-led only.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the Safe sections of this full report.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for 24/7 Staffing Support Kettering on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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

24/7 staffing support Kettering is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to younger adults and older people, people with physical disability, dementia, learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. people are supported in their own houses. At the time of our inspection there were 12 people using the service.

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

Recruitment procedures required further development to ensure they followed current best practice guidance. The registered manager had ensured staff had a current DBS check in place. Staff demonstrated good knowledge of the safe management of medicines. Individualised plans were not in place to support people with as and when required medicines, this meant people could be at risk of not receiving these medicines safely, the registered manager started to address this during the inspection.

Gloves and aprons were provided for staff to prevent the spread of infection and staff knew how to protect people. Not all infection risks had been identified or were being managed effectively. The registered manager agreed to seek professional guidance in this area. Staff had received training in how to protect people from abuse and knew how to report concerns.

Assessments for people prior to them starting with the service were not consistently completed to ensure the service could meet the person’s needs. End of life decisions were not routinely discussed, and we have recommended that the provider consider current guidance around this. Staff had an induction and training prior to starting with the service, some areas of people’s care were not included in the providers training, but staff demonstrated good knowledge in these areas.

The registered manager was working in partnership with the local authority to implement systems to ensure oversight of the quality of the service. We have made a recommendation around ensuring effective quality assurance monitoring.

There was a culture of continued learning and improvement and the registered manager understood the need to be open and transparent when things had gone wrong. We also found they had a good understanding of their responsibilities and the regulatory requirements. People’s feedback on the service was sought regularly and the information collated to improve the service.

There were enough staff available to meet people's needs and people received their care from a regular team that knew them well. People told us they had good relationships with staff and about how staff were kind and caring. People's choices and preferences were considered and respected in the assessment and care planning process.

Information gathering around culture, religion and sexuality could be better explored. We have made a recommendation that the provider seek guidance around ensuring they have the information needed to ensure these needs are met. Partnership working with other professionals ensured people had access to healthcare services when they needed them.

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.

At the time of our inspection the service was not supporting anyone with a learning disability. However, 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 This service was registered with us on 25/10/2018 and this is the first inspection.