Archived: My Homecare Halifax

Holmfield mills Holmfield Halifax HX36SN offces 3.12 and 3.13 (known as My Homecare Halifax) is a domiciliary care agency providing support to people in their own homes in the community. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. Care Quality Commission (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 the service was providing personal care to 16 people.

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

The service had improved areas relating to how they managed medicines and risks to people, infection, prevention and control, recruitment of workers and governance since the previous inspection. Further improvements were needed to make sure the service was consistently good. Safe recruitment procedures were usually followed to ensure staff were suitable to work at the service. The registered manager was introducing additional measures to make sure every recruitment process was robust. The service had enough staff to meet people’s needs and usually the same care workers visited so people received continuity of care. Risks were usually assessed and managed, and people received their medicines as prescribed. The service followed safe infection, prevention and control procedures. People felt safe when care workers visited.

People and their relatives were happy with the service and leadership. Systems to measure the quality and safety of services provided were driving improvement but many were new and still needed to embed to guarantee consistently. Staff were well supported in their role.

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 inadequate (published 8 June 2021) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

This service has been in Special Measures since June 2021. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check whether the Warning Notices we previously served in relation to Regulation 17 and 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met and the provider had made improvements and now met legal requirements in relation to Regulation 12. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Holmfield mills Holmfield Halifax HX36SN offces 3.12 and 3.13 on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

Holmfield mills Holmfield Halifax HX36SN offces 3.12 and 3.13 (known as My Homecare Halifax) is a domiciliary care agency providing support to people in their own homes in the community. 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 the service was providing personal care to 22 people.

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

People were not always safe. Safe recruitment processes were not followed as required checks had not been completed before staff started work. Risks to people's health and safety were not fully assessed or mitigated. Medicines were not managed safely. Safeguarding incidents were not always recognised or reported to the appropriate agencies. Staff in the office were not wearing PPE in accordance with government guidance, although this was addressed immediately when we raised it with the registered manager.

Overall people and relatives were satisfied with the service provided and said most of the staff were good. Although they observed the service was short staffed which impacted on the timing of calls. Staff said call rotas were disorganised and travel time between calls was not always sufficient.

Systems to assess, monitor and improve the service were not effective.

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 4 December 2019) and there were two breaches of regulation. The provider did not complete an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection enough improvement had not been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management of the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to inadequate. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe 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.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to recruitment, safe care and treatment and good governance at this inspection.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe. And there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.

For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it. And it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.

My Homecare Halifax is a domiciliary care agency providing support to people in their own homes in the community. 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 the service was providing personal care to 22 people.

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

Recruitment processes were not robust as checks, to ensure staff were suitable, had not been completed before they started working in the service. Following the inspection the registered manager told us they had taken action to address this issue.

There was a lack of quality assurance systems to monitor and check service delivery and those that were in place were not always effective. Following the inspection the registered manager told us they were taking action to address these matters.

People and relatives were happy with the care provided. They were involved in planning and making decisions about their care. Risks were assessed and managed and people received their medicines safely. People’s nutritional and healthcare needs were met. Staffing was organised to make sure people received their calls on time and staff stayed the full length of the call.

People and relatives said the staff were kind and caring. People were treated with respect and their privacy and dignity was maintained.

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.

Staff had completed induction and training to support their roles and supervision was being rolled out to the staff team. People and relatives confirmed staff followed infection control procedure wearing gloves and aprons appropriately. Safe systems were in place to manage any allegations of abuse and complaints.

Everyone knew the registered manager who supported the staff team and worked alongside them delivering care. People and relatives said the registered manager was approachable and addressed any issues they raised. Our discussions with the registered manager showed they were committed to improving the service.

We identified two breaches of regulation in relation to recruitment and good governance. You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the end of the full version of this report. 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 22 November 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.