Archived: Professional Care Support Services Ltd

This inspection took place on 9 September 2015 and was announced. We gave the registered manager 48 hours’ notice to give them time to become available for the inspection. This was the first inspection of this service since they registered with CQC on 6 March 2014.

Professional Care Support Services provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. The people who use the service included older people and people with a learning disability or a physical disability. There were seven people using the service at the time of our inspection.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

People were not always supported by care workers who were recruited safely. Gaps in employment history were not always explored and appropriate checks of people’s character or past performance in a similar role were not always obtained. Information required by law was not always held on care workers files to show that these had been carried out.

The service did not always manage risks to people well because these were not always fully assessed with suitable management plans for care workers to follow as part of keeping people safe. In addition there were risks that people’s medicines were not always managed safely as risk assessments were not always carried out and care plans were not always accurate as to how care workers should support people in this area.

There were enough care workers deployed to meet people’s needs. Care workers received appropriate supervision and appraisal to support them in their roles. A training programme for care workers was in place and the registered manager was arranging further necessary training.

Care workers did not understand their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 regarding what to do if a person lacked capacity to consent. This meant the correct procedure for making decisions in relation to people’s best interests may not have always been made in accordance with the MCA.

People felt safe and care workers understood the signs people may be being abused and how to report these internally and externally, such as to the local authority safeguarding team and CQC.

People and relatives were positive about the service and told us they were satisfied with it. They told us care workers were kind and caring. Care workers knew the needs and preferences of the people they were supporting, although this information was not always recorded in people’s care plans.

People knew how to raise complaints and systems were in place to respond to any complaints made.

People were involved in decisions about their care and were supported appropriately to eat and drink. The provider involved people and care workers in the running of the care home and communicated well with them. Care workers treated people with dignity and respect and were kind to people.

The systems in place for the provider to assess, monitor and improve the service were not always suitable because they had not always identified and resolved the issues we found at this inspection.

At this inspection there were four breaches of regulations. These were in relation to care workers’ recruitment, risk assessments and medicines management, mental capacity and consent and assessing and monitoring and improving the quality of service. You can see the action we asked the provider to take at the back of this report.