Archived: New Hope Care Gloucester

New Hope Care Gloucester is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were ten 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

Since our last inspection, improvements have been made to the quality of care, staff training and recruitment and the management of the service. The registered manager had assessed and implemented a range of systems and procedures to help them monitor and improve the service. However, further time was needed to assess whether the systems were effective and also to improve the recording of some of their monitoring processes such as staff observations.

We found progress was being made with staff training and development. Sufficient staff were available and had been safely recruited to meet people’s needs.

Care and risk management plans provided staff with the information they needed to support people safely. Staff safely supported people with their medicines where needed. Further information was needed about the management of people’s prescribed creams to help guide staff in their application.

Staff and the managers were aware of their responsibility to monitor people’s well-being and report any concerns, allegation of abuse and incidents. Concerns or incidents would be reviewed by the managers and any learnings would be shared with staff to help prevent further occurrence.

People received personalised care and were supported to access health care services if their needs changed. 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 felt supported and valued by the management team. Communication systems were in place to enable people, relatives and staff to engage with the service and managers. The registered manager welcomed feedback from people, relatives and staff to better understand and improve their experiences of the service.

We have recommended the provider seeks guidance on their requirement to display CQC’s performance assessment and overall ratings on their website in a timely manner.

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 14 April 2022). 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

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 22 February and 10 March 2022. Four breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment, staffing, and safe recruitment

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This inspection also, included to check whether the Warning Notice we previously served in relation to Regulation 17 (Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well-led which contain those requirements.

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. 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 New Hope Care Gloucester 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 and the provider's requirement to display their performance assessment and ratings on their website.

New Hope Care Gloucester is a domiciliary care service providing personal care people in their own home. At the time of the inspection, nine people were receiving support from 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

The service had not been managed consistently by a registered person since being registered with CQC in March 2021. This limited oversight by the management team had resulted in widespread shortfalls in their governance systems and regulatory requirements.

Effective quality assurance systems had not been put into place to monitor the delivery of care, staff development and recruitment. The registered managers could not demonstrate their compliance with the regulations as accurate and complete records had not been maintained.

People were at risk of receiving unsafe care. This was because staff had not always been suitably trained or assessed as being competent to safely support people. Staff did not have access to detailed care records which were underpinned by best practice principles.

There was limited evidence that staff had been safely recruited. Pre-employment checks and induction had not been completed and criminal checks for some staff had not been completed before they started to deliver care to people. Staff had not always received adequate support from a registered person.

People and their relatives praised the care they received. However, information about people’s care was not personalised and did not demonstrate that they had consented to their care. Detailed records of how staff should support people with their medicines and the actions they should take to help reduce further risks such as falls or skin breakdown were not in place.

People and their relatives reported they felt safe when being supported by staff, however they stated that their care calls start times were inconsistent on some days.

The registered managers had not ensured that people’s capacity to make decisions about their care was documented in their care plans or assessed as needed. This put people at risk of not being supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. However, staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Records had not been kept to demonstrate that the provider and registered managers monitored any complaints, safeguarding incidents or accidents relating to people who used the service. Systems had not been fully implemented to regularly engaged with people who used the service and staff.

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 2 March 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This service had not been inspected since their registration; therefore, this inspection was carried out to gain assurances about the quality of care and systems used to monitor and manage the service.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement and Recommendations

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 monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to staff development and safe recruitment as well as the safe care and treatment of people and the governance of the service at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

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.