The Care Quality Commission
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Nupath Care Gateshead

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Unit 32, Kingsway House, Kingsway, Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, NE11 0HW (0191) 691 9080

Provided and run by:
HH Community Care Limited

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Nupath Care - Gateshead is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care to individuals living in their own homes. They offer services to people with complex physical needs, people with learning disabilities and older people. The service is registered to support autistic people or people with a learning disability. The service worked in line with ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ to make sure people were treated with respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and had good access to local communities. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. Personal care is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do provide personal care, we also consider any wider social care provided during our assessment.


This assessment took place between 26 February 2025 and 4 April 2025. At the last inspection published 8 March 2023, the service was rated requires improvement with a breach of regulation 18, due to the provider not having enough staff to safely care for people. At this inspection we found they had made improvements and were no longer in breach of regulation 18.
We gathered information from people who used the service, relatives, the registered manager, and care staff who have worked with the service.

We found people received reliable, timely and effective support from staff who understood their needs. Staff built up a good rapport with people and involved them or their advocates in care planning.
Staff arrived on time and contingency plans were in place to ensure unexpected absence was covered. Where people had complex needs, new staff always shadowed existing staff to get to know them and learn about people’s communication styles.The registered manager and provider had effective oversight of the service, with a robust electronic care system in place. Management used the electronic system to monitor and review the service, ensuring any issues were acted on swiftly.Staff said managers were approachable and supportive. Managers worked closely with staff and people who used the service to ensure care standards met their expectations.
 

30 November 2022

During a routine inspection

Nupath Care Gateshead is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 6 people using the service.

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

People’s care and support needs were not always provided in line with their assessed needs. The provider did not always ensure that there were suitable numbers of staff available to safely support people. Relatives told us they often had to provide support to people and had raised this with staff during care reviews, but this was not actioned or raised with the registered manager.

Notifications relating to significant events that had occurred at the service, for example allegations of abuse, had not always been submitted to the CQC. This is part of the legal requirement all registered managers and provider must follow to ensure they are meeting the regulations.

Relatives provided positive feedback about the approach of staff and how they treated people. People were supported to be as independent as possible and staff carried out enabling calls so that people could participate in actives and socialise within the community.

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 people may face were fully identified and mitigated. Medicines were safely managed, and the service worked in partnership with other health care professionals to make sure people received a continuous level of support.

People had person-centred care plans which were created from holistic assessments of people's needs. Staff had a positive relationship with the registered manager and felt able to provide feedback regularly about the service. The quality and assurance systems in place allowed for effective monitoring of the service by the registered manager and provider.

Staff had access to PPE and followed best practice guidance and the provider's policy in relation to infection prevention and control. Staff received training and support to make sure they had the right skills and knowledge to support people.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 12 April 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement and recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to staffing levels and submission of notifications at this inspection. We have made a recommendation that the provider reviews the systems in place to ensure that any identified actions from care reviews can be monitored by the registered manager.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.