Metro Homecare Ltd

Metro Homecare Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to mostly older people living in their own homes. It also supports some adults who are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 37 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

People were consulted in all aspects of their care and support and their choices were respected.

People’s healthcare and nutritional needs were assessed and met.

People who used the service and their relatives were happy with the service they received. People said the staff were kind, caring and respectful and they had developed good relationships with them.

Risks to people’s health and safety had been identified and assessed. Risk assessments contained guidelines for staff about how to reduce risk and support people to remain safe. Initial assessments contained the correct and necessary information so staff would know how to meet people’s individual needs.

The provider had systems in place for the safe management of medicines and people received their medicines safely and as prescribed.

Care plans were detailed and person-centred. They contained enough information for staff to know people’s individual needs and choices.

The provider had improved their monitoring systems and had made improvements where needed.

Staff were happy and felt well supported. They enjoyed their work and spoke positively about the people they cared for. They received the training, support and information they needed to provide effective care. The provider had robust procedures for recruiting and inducting staff to help ensure only suitable staff were employed.

The provider worked with other professionals to help make sure people had access to health care services.

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.

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 17 December 2020) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

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

Follow up

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

Metro Homecare Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to mostly older people living in their own homes. It also supports some adults who are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection the service was providing care to 78 people.

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

Where there were risks to people’s safety and wellbeing, these had been assessed. However, risk assessments did not always include a risk management plan or guidance for staff to follow to help ensure they understood the person’s condition and knew how to meet their needs. Accidents and incidents were not always analysed and investigated in line with the provider’s policy, and there was no evidence of lessons learned.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and recognise when improvements were required. However, these had not always been effective and had failed to identify the issues we found during our inspection.

Notwithstanding the above, we received positive feedback from people and their relatives about the service, and people told us they felt safe and well cared for. They trusted the care workers and the management team.

People's care and risk management plans set out the care tasks they required help with and these contained personalised information about people and their preferences for how they liked to be supported.

The provider made sure there were enough staff to support people and staff usually arrived at people’s homes on time. Staff received induction, training and supervision and felt supported in their roles.

The provider sought feedback from people, relatives and staff and used this to develop the service. People and staff were confident they could raise any concerns they had with the registered manager and felt they would be listened to.

The registered manager and senior staff were responsive to and worked in partnership with other agencies to meet people’s needs.

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

This service was registered with us on 20/6/2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

We undertook this targeted inspection to follow up on specific concerns which we had received about the service. The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the care and support people received and the way the service was managed. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

During the inspection, we made the decision to widen the scope of the inspection to become a focused inspection which included the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led.

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

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.