31 October 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
247 Home Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. The agency also has a local authority contract to support people being discharged from hospital. At the time of our inspection there were 45 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
Risks people faced were not always identified or assessed, which did not ensure safety. Action was not always taken to minimise such risks. Records did not always show a robust recruitment procedure, and scheduling of people’s visits was challenging. This was because there were not always enough staff to consistently provide cover, particularly at weekends or at times of staff sickness. Records did not show people’s medicines were always managed safely. People felt safe with staff supporting them, but systems to help protect people from the risk of abuse were not always effective. Systems were in place to ensure good infection prevention and control practice.
People had an electronic care plan in place. However, some of the information, including the impact of people’s health conditions was limited. This did not ensure staff had the required information to support people in the best possible way. Staff had not always documented an account of the visit, and some terminology used was not respectful or demonstrated a lack of understanding of people’s needs. People were generally happy with the support they received and were enabled to be part of their community, as part of their care package if needed. People and their relatives knew how to raise a concern or a formal complaint. They felt they would be listened to, and action would be taken to resolve their concern.
There was a quality auditing system in place, but it was not always effective, as shortfalls were not consistently being identified or addressed. This included those areas identified in this inspection such as risk management, the safe administration of people’s medicines, recruitment procedures, care planning and staff training. The provider did not have a deputy or care manager so was finding both roles of registered manager and provider, a challenge. They also completed people’s support which took them away from their management responsibilities. This had impacted on their management oversight and the quality of the service. People and their relatives were encouraged to give their views about the service and a positive culture was promoted.
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 31 December 2019)
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to two separate concerns received about staff recruitment and training, missed and inconsistent timing of people’s visits and care planning not being undertaken in a timely manner. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe, responsive and well led sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for 247 Home Care Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.