My Homecare Peterborough

My Homecare Peterborough is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. The service is able to support younger people, older people some of who were living with dementia, mental health, people with a physical disability and people with a sensory impairment. At the time of the inspection 8 people were using the service and in receipt of personal care.

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.

Some people were also supported with live-in care. This is where staff stay in the person’s home for a large proportion of the day and were part of the person’s household.

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

The provider's oversight, governance and quality assurance systems were not always effective in identifying improvements. Records of incidents were detailed and showed actions were taken, but the provider had failed to notify the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as required. We found the provider had failed to follow their own policies in regard to recruitment and obtaining of references.

Trained staff administered people’s medicines and these staff had been deemed competent. However, not all medicines administration records had been completed as required by the provider's policy.

People and relatives told us staff knew how to safeguard and support people to keep them safe. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs.

Staff adhered to good infection prevention and control practises. The service and the staff team took on board learning when things went wrong.

Risks to people were identified and managed well. However, there were inconsistencies in the amount of detail in risk assessments and care plans. For instance, how to undertake moving and handling tasks or people's home environment. Staff did, however, know how to keep people safe.

Although the service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission, at the time of our inspection they were no longer in post and cancelled their registration before we published this report. The provider told us a new manager was going to apply to be registered, but they had not yet submitted an application.

The provider took onboard learning opportunities, and implemented actions when needed. The views of people, their relatives' and staff were sought, and this enabled them to have a say in how the service was provided. The provider worked with other organisations, to provide people with joined up care.

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

Rating

The last rating for this service was good (published 20 March 2022).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation staffing, management of medicines, risks to people's safety, and management of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. We found evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from some of these concerns. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this report.

We found two breaches of regulations. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

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.

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 good 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 My Homecare Peterborough 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.

My Homecare Peterborough is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. The service supports younger people, older people some of who were living with dementia, mental health, people with a physical disability and people with a sensory impairment. The service also provides some people with live-in care and support in the person's home. At the time of the inspection, 33 people were 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

Not all monitoring systems and processes were as effective as they could have been. The manager acted promptly about the improvements we found needed to the quality of records, recruitment, care plans and risks assessments. There had not been any negative impact on people. However, until we pointed these out the provider’s monitoring had not identified the improvements needed.

People's needs were assessed before the service provided them with care or support. People’s care plans lacked detail and this created a risk of care not being as person centred as it could have been. Staff, however, knew people's needs well.

Enough skilled and suitable staff had been recruited. People were supported by a consistent staff team who they felt comfortable with. People received their medicines as prescribed and were cared for by staff who ensured they followed infection prevention guidance and good practise.

People felt safe with the care provided to them. Risks to people's health and safety were assessed and staff knew how to support people to keep them safe. The service and its staff team took on board learning when things went wrong. This prompted a review of people's care needs to reduce the risk of any recurrences.

People said staff had the skills necessary to care for them well. Staff had received the required training and ongoing support to help them maintain and improve their care skills to fulfil their role and responsibilities.

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.

People said staff were caring and knew their needs and preferences well. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and they encouraged and promoted people's independence.

People said they were involved when reviewing their care and felt staff were responsive to their changing needs.

The provider was open and transparent and promoted a person-centred culture within the service. The provider worked well with other organisations, to provide people with joined up care.

People, their relatives and staff thought the service was well managed and responsive to their needs. However, some people and relatives felt that communication could be improved. The manager told us they had acted where staff had not followed procedures

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 25 June 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the management of the service, staffing, risks management and staff skill levels. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns but there was a risk of this occurring. Please see the Safe, Effective and Well-led question sections of this full report.

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.