Background to this inspection
Updated
22 April 2021
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
This inspection was carried out by two inspectors. One expert by experience telephoned relatives to obtain feedback about their experience of the care provided to their relative. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and supported living settings. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 11 March 2021 and ended on 23 March 2021. We visited the office location on 11 March 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as allegations of abuse, and accident and incidents. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at policies and procedures, training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with three people who used the service and 11 relatives about their experience of the care provided. Additionally, we spoke with five members of care staff.
Updated
22 April 2021
About the service
Kare Plus Homecare West Midlands is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and supported living services. The provider currently supports up to 53 people living in their own houses and flats and supported living services in the community. Supported living services
enable people to live in their own home and live their lives as independently as possible.
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
We found improvements were needed in relation to the documents we viewed to ensure people received a safe service. It was not always possible to establish when people had needed medicine administered to them. Protocols in administration of medicines were not always in place to ensure they were administered safely and when required.
Care plans and risk assessments viewed did not always provide enough detailed personalised information to ensure staff could provide consistent safe care.
Accidents and incidents were not always discussed and reviewed to ensure learning and improvements were made to people’s care.
Management systems had not identified the shortfalls in the records identified during this inspection.
The registered manager was aware of the need to inform the Care Quality Commission of certain events although it was found one notification had not been sent due to an oversight.
People and relatives spoke positively about the service and staff, saying they [staff] treat their family member well. The provider had a policy and procedure to safeguard people from abuse. Staff had received training in safeguarding and knew how to report any concerns.
People were protected from the risk of cross infection as staff had received infection control training and followed guidelines in relation to personal protective equipment (PPE) in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recruitment was undertaken safely, with appropriate background checks before staff started work.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 12 April 2019).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to the safety of people using the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
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 Kare Plus Homecare West Midlands on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.