Archived: Express Healthcare UK Limited Domiciliary Care Agency

Updated 29 October 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 4 and 5 October 2016 and was announced. The provider was given notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service; we needed to be sure that someone would be in. The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.

At the time of this inspection there were six people receiving personal care from Express Healthcare UK Limited Domiciliary Care Agency. We spoke with one person who used the service, two relatives, three staff and the registered manager and director. We visited the office of the service and spent some time looking at documents and records that related to people’s care and support and the management of the service. We looked at two people’s care plans.

Before the inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service. We contacted the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We sometimes ask providers to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. On this occasion we did not receive a PIR.

Updated 29 October 2016

The inspection took place on 4 and 5 October 2016 and was announced. We carried out an inspection in April 2014, where we found the provider was meeting all the regulations we inspected.

Express Healthcare provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community, to assist and support them in maintaining or improving their independence.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The registered manager told us not everyone who received a service had the capacity to make decisions about their care and support. They said people did not have mental capacity assessments in their care plans. We found the management team needed to obtain a better understanding of what was required to help the service work within the principles of the MCA and further training needed to be sought.

People and relatives told us they were very happy with the service they received and staff were kind and caring, treated them with dignity and respected their choices. People told us they felt safe and we found there were appropriate systems in place to protect people from risk of harm.

People’s care and support needs were assessed and care plans identified how care and support should be delivered. Staff members told us care plans contained sufficient information to enable them to carry out their role effectively. We saw the care plans were reviewed on a regular basis to make sure they provided accurate and up to date information. People received assistance with meals and healthcare when required. We found there were appropriate arrangements for the safe handling of medicines.

We found people were cared for, or supported by, appropriately trained staff. Robust recruitment procedures were in place. Staff had opportunities for on-going development and the registered manager ensured they received induction, supervision, annual appraisals and training relevant to their role. People who used the service said staff always stayed the agreed length of time and were more or less always on time.

People who used the service, relatives and staff all told us the management of the service was very good. They said the registered manager was approachable and responsive. We found there were appropriate systems in place for the management of complaints and systems to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided.

We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.