About the service Executive Carers is a home care service registered to provide personal care. People are supported with their personal care needs to enable them to live in their own homes and promote their independence. At the time of the inspection the service supported 70 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
Staff were overall recruited safely, however we have made a recommendation to ensure this was more robust and areas which needed exploring and documenting were fully recorded. Overall medicines were managed safely, however instructions for ‘when required’ medicine and the recording of topical medicines needed improvement. We have made a recommendation about improving medicines processes. The provider had not recognised the need to carry out decision-specific mental capacity assessments. Systems had not identified omissions in some medicines procedures and recruitment. Action was taken to address these following our feedback.
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 did not fully support this practice. However, action was taken to address this in response to our feedback.
There were enough staff to support people safely and people generally had their calls on time. Action was taken in response to accidents and incidents. People were protected from the risk of abuse by staff who understood their safeguarding responsibilities. People felt safe whilst being supported and risk reduction measures were in place to help protect them. People were protected from the risk of cross infection.
Staff received training and support to be effective in their role. People were supported to have enough food and drink of their choice to keep them healthy. People had their needs assessed and planned for and could access other health and social care professionals when necessary.
People were supported by staff who were kind and caring and treated them with dignity and respect. People had their protected characteristics considered. People were supported to make decisions about their care. People were supported to remain independent and have privacy.
People had personalised care plans in place so staff could get to know them. People generally felt involved in developing their care plans. People were supported to maintain relationships and avoid social isolation. People were supported to access information and communicate in a way that met their needs. Complaints were recorded, investigated and responded to. The provider had measures in place should they support people nearing the end of their life.
People, relatives and staff felt positively about the provider. Staff felt appreciated in their role. The provider understood their duty of candour. People, relatives and staff were asked for their opinions about the service. The provider worked in partnership with other organisations and professionals. The provider used their experience to continuously learn and improve.
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)
This service was registered with us on 29 January 2021 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was requires improvement (published 6 August 2020). At this inspection under this provider, they have been rated good overall (requires improvement in well-led).
Why we inspected
We received information that the provider had used inappropriate terminology when referring to a person they supported. The provider had also changed their registration with us and had not had an inspection to check their rating since this change, prior to this inspection. We discussed the terminology used by the provider, who was remorseful. We did not find any other instances of inappropriate terminology being used by them or any other staff during 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.