Archived: Riccall Carers Limited

Updated 9 November 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

Two inspectors conducted the first day of inspection and one inspector attended on the second. Three inspectors undertook staff phone calls. Two Expert by Experience (ExE) telephoned people who used the service and / or their relatives. 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 homes.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This gave the provider time to make arrangements for us to speak with people who used the service and staff.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and considered other forms of feedback we had received. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 10 people who used the service and seven relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 18 members of staff including the registered manager, directors, operations manager, care co-ordinator, assessment and review officer, recruitment officer, human resources administrator and carers. We also spoke with the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and their induction. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found and were provided with updates about the urgent actions we had requested were undertaken.

Updated 9 November 2021

About the service

Riccall Carers Limited is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care, companionship and assistance with everyday tasks to people living within the York and Selby areas. The service supported people with a range of needs including those living with dementia, people who have a learning disability or Autistic Spectrum Disorder and both older and younger people. There were 176 people being supported at the time of our inspection

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 multiple concerns at this inspection which could compromise people’s safety and impacted on the quality of support people received.

The provider had not established an effective system to monitor the quality and safety of the service people received or to drive the necessary improvements.

Accidents and incidents had not always been reported or followed-up to ensure actions had been taken to mitigate risk for people. Risk assessments were not always in place when risks to people had been identified. When risk assessments had been completed, they lacked detail to guide staff in how to reduce the risks. Safeguarding concerns had not always been raised to enable investigations by the relevant agencies. Medicines had not been managed safely. People had not received their medicines as prescribed which impacted on people. Audits completed had failed to identify the extensive concerns we found with medicines management during the inspection.

People who used the service and staff told us care calls were frequently cancelled, late and on occasions, missed. People didn’t always know who to report their concerns to. When concerns had been reported, they received no follow-up to advise of the actions taken.

People who used the service told us most of the carers were kind, but calls were sometimes rushed. Staff told us they did not feel supported to enable them to perform their duties and were unclear as to people’s roles and responsibilities.

The provider took immediate actions to address urgent concerns about people potentially been at risk of harm. We requested the provider send an update as to the actions been taken to ensure the safety and improve the quality of the service.

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 (report published 15 May 2019).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating and intelligence around potential risk.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

At this inspection, we have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, safeguarding, good governance and staffing.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response can be found at the end of this report.