The Care Quality Commission
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Archived: New Hope Care Lockhurst Lane

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

Room S4 Enterprise House, Foleshill Enterprise Park, Courtaulds Way, Coventry, West Midlands, CV6 5NX (024) 7666 2221

Provided and run by:
New Hope Specialist Care Ltd

All Inspections

19 February 2015

During a routine inspection

This inspection took place on 19 February 2015. The provider was given two days’ notice of our inspection. This was to arrange for staff and people to be available to talk with us about the service.

New Hope Care is a domiciliary agency which provides personal support to people in their own homes. The agency provides support to people in the Solihull and Coventry areas of the West Midlands.

The registered manager identified in this report is no longer the manager of the service. 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 had left the service in November 2014 and the provider was acting as the manager until a new manager was recruited.

At our last inspection in April 2014 we identified concerns in record keeping at the agency. At this inspection we found record keeping had improved, although there were some records which needed updating.

People and their relatives told us they mostly felt safe using the service and staff treated them well. However, they felt less safe when their regular care staff were absent because they were not sure if the substitute staff member would cover the call on time and sometimes the call was not covered at all.

Care workers had left the agency and the provider found it challenging to recruit and retain staff to meet people’s needs. They were recruiting new staff and looking at improving the retention rates of staff at the service.

Care workers understood how to protect people they supported from abuse. People and their relatives thought staff were kind and responsive to people’s needs.

Care workers received training considered essential to provide health and social care safely and to meet the needs of people they cared for. Management and staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), and supported people in line with these principles.

People told us they knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. However some people had not been satisfied with the responses to their concerns.

Since our last visit, the agency had been through a period of management instability. Two registered managers and other key staff had left the organisation. The provider who owned other New Hope domiciliary care agencies had recently re-located to this agency to provide additional management support and improve the service provided to people.

14 April 2014

During a routine inspection

During our visit we looked at records, spoke with people, their relatives, management and staff. They helped us answer our five questions; Is the service safe? Is the service effective? Is the service caring? Is the service responsive? Is the service well led?

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, their relatives, the staff supporting them, and from looking at records.

If you want to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

People told us they felt safe with the care workers who provided their care. They told us their regular carer workers usually arrived on time and provided the care as detailed on their care plans. We were told during the days when their regular care workers were not available, the replacement care workers were not always able to provide care at the previously agreed times.

We saw the service had an in-house trainer who provided staff with training to enable them to undertake their work safely and effectively.

People told us they were treated with respect and dignity by staff. One person told us staff were, "Always respectful, they're brilliant."

We saw accidents and incidents were reported to the office. This information was kept in people's individual records. There was no system in place to analyse these and determine whether there were any patterns or trends associated with them.

Is the service effective?

The service operated at a different location until January 2014. In January the service moved to their new office location. Around the time of the move to the new location, two of the office support staff left the organisation. This meant for a short period of time the service was less effective because of the disruption caused by the office move and staff vacancies.

We saw the service had appointed a new administrator and care co-ordinator, and the office team were working hard to make sure all records were accurate and up to date.

Is the service caring?

The service provided care to 27 people. We spoke with seven people who used the service. All seven told us staff were caring. One person told us how the care worker supported their adult son. They said, 'She's ever so good with him, he only has one carer, she's brilliant.' Another said, I am very satisfied with them, they listen to the changes needed.' A third person told us, I'm quite happy with her (care worker), she comes on time, goes on time and does what I want her to do.'

Is the service responsive?

People told us the manager was responsive to any queries or concerns raised. One person told us, 'If I have any worries, Jean (the registered manager) deals with it nicely.' Another told us, 'The office are prompt when dealing with queries.'

We saw the service had received three complaints over a 12 month period. We saw the manager had dealt with the complaints appropriately.

Is the service well-led?

People we spoke with told us they felt able to contact the manager about their care and the manager would deal with any of their issues quickly and effectively.

Staff we spoke with told us they thought the manager was approachable and provided good support. We saw by looking in staff files that staff received regular formal supervision to support them with their work.

We looked at quality assurance systems. Prior to our inspection the service had sent out quality assurance questionnaires to people using the service. They were waiting for people to send their responses back. This meant the service was interested in hearing people's views and responded accordingly.