Care Matters (Homecare) Limited Darlington

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

About the service

Care Matters (Homecare) Limited Darlington supports people to live in their own homes. The service provides personal care and support to people who may be living with dementia, of older age, a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, a physical disability, sensory impairment or mental health needs. At the time of the inspection, the service was providing care to 23 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

Right Support:

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.

Risks to people's health, safety and well-being were effectively managed. Medicines were administered safely. The provider had effective infection prevention and control systems in place.

People were supported to access specialist health and social care support where appropriate. People told us they felt safe when receiving support from staff. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

Right Care:

People told us staff arrived on time and they received support from the same good group of staff, which promoted good continuity of care. People's needs were assessed prior to the commencement of the service. The assessment included people's health, physical, emotional and communication needs. Care provided was personalised and supported people’s preferences and wishes. The new manager was reviewing all care plans with people and their relatives,

Staff respected people's privacy and dignity. People were encouraged to be independent and to carry out tasks without support.

People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs.

Right Culture:

The provider had recruitment processes in place to ensure suitable staff were employed. People told us staff were kind, caring and promoted their dignity.

Systems were in place to manage complaints. The previous registered manager left at the end of 2022 and there was a gap in management support until March 2023. A new manager was now in post and in the process of applying to be registered with CQC. People and staff spoke positively about the new manager and they had plans in place to meet with all staff and people to review their support needs.

Systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service were in place.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 5 February 2019).

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.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good overall and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. At this inspection we found the service now required improvement in the well-led domain. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

People said this was a safe service. They knew the staff and felt comfortable with each of them. Some staff raised concerns about rostering and travel time between calls, we discussed this with the management team to review how improvements could be made.

People were supported in a safe way. Staff had training in infection control and had all the necessary equipment to care for people in a hygienic way. People who required assistance with medicines were supported by staff who had training in medicines management.

People’s needs were assessed before the care service was arranged, however some staff said this could be more timely as information was not always in place quickly. Staff were trained in care and relevant health and safety topics. People’s consent was sought and recorded before care was provided.

Where appropriate people were supported with meals. Where people had specialist dietary needs, this was recorded and staff were trained in specialist techniques where necessary. The service had good working relationships with healthcare services and any changes in people’s health were referred to the right service.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

There were good relationships between people and staff. People felt confident that staff knew their needs, preferences and wishes.

Care Matters Limited provided a personalised service that matched each person’s individual needs. Care records were sufficiently detailed to guide staff in the individual needs of each person. Some people said they felt their concerns hadn’t always been listened to. We saw the new manager had already begun to go out and meet with people and had listened and addressed these concerns.

We received mixed views from the staff team about how they felt supported by the management team. The management team agreed that communication needed to improve and the new manager had already begun to meet with staff on a 1:1 basis and via staff meetings to listen to their views. Staff raised some issues regarding their employment terms and we fed this back to the management team who stated they were committed to making continuous improvements to the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

Care Matters (Homecare) Limited provides care and support to people living in their own homes. On the day of our inspection there were 50 people using the service.

The service did not have a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 service had a manager who had applied to CQC to be registered.

Care Matters (Homecare) Limited was last inspected by CQC on 23 April 2014 and was compliant with the regulations in force at that time.

Risk assessments were in place for people who used the service and staff, and described potential risks and the safeguards in place. Accidents and incidents were appropriately recorded and staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults. Procedures were in place to ensure people received medicines as prescribed.

There were sufficient numbers of staff in order to meet the needs of people who used the service, to support them within their own homes. The provider had an effective recruitment and selection procedure in place and carried out relevant checks when they employed staff. Staff were suitably trained and received regular supervisions and appraisals.

The provider was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

People were protected from the risk of poor nutrition and staff were aware of people’s nutritional needs. People who used the service had access to healthcare services and received ongoing healthcare support.

People who used the service were complimentary about the standard of care provided by Care Matters (Homecare) Limited. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and helped to maintain people’s independence by encouraging them to care for themselves where possible.

Care records showed that people’s needs were assessed before they started using the service and care plans were written in a person centred way. Staff protected people from social isolation by supporting people to go out into the community.

People who used the service did not have any complaints about the care and support they received but were aware of how to make a complaint via the provider’s service user guide.

Staff felt supported by the manager and were comfortable raising any concerns. People who used the service and staff were regularly consulted about the quality of the service. People told us the management were approachable and understanding.

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on our observations during the inspection, speaking with people who used the service and staff who worked there, and looking at records.

Is the service caring? - We saw the care plan of a person who used the service was written with the person and their family and that their preferences were clearly recorded.

Is the service responsive? - The service had a complaints procedure in place and this was shared with people as part of their initial assessment and a copy of it held in people's care plan for them to access. The manager told us that the service reviewed people who received a service on an ongoing basis and sought their views about the quality of the service they felt they received.

Is the service safe? ' The service had safeguarding policies and procedures in place and the manager we spoke with knew how to respond to any concerns that was raised with them. We saw recruitment checks were being undertaken with prospective staff members to ensure they were able to work with vulnerable people. Risk assessments were carried out to ensure that both people who used the service and staff members maintained a safe working environment.

Is the service effective? ' Care plans and risk assessments were written with the person receiving the service and their family and their wishes and preferences were clearly recorded. The service had also developed a 'familiarisation' checklist so people who used the service could be introduced to new staff. People were also supported to give their consent for areas such as medication and key holding.

Is the service well-led? 'The manager had been in post since 2013 and was registered with the Care Quality Commission in January 2014. Policies and procedures were in place and were stored electronically so they were always up to date. The manager had begun a programme to undertake quality checks and to get formal feedback from people using the service in a more structured way. We will review how the service has continued to implement its quality assurance process on our next visit.