Archived: St Martha's at Home

Updated 15 May 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place over two days. The first visit was on 8 January 2015 and was unannounced. Another visit was made on 20 January 2015 on that day the provider knew we would return.

On 8 January 2015 one inspector spoke with the provider about concerns raised by members of the public and gathered contact details of staff and people who used the service.

On 14 and 15 January 2015 an expert by experience conducted telephone interviews with four people who used the service and three of their relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

On 19 January 2015 one inspector visited four people who used the services in their own homes.

Before the inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the service. We gathered information from Sunderland Council Safeguarding, Sunderland Council Commissioners and Sunderland CCG.

We looked at five care plans for people who used the service. We examined five staff records including recruitment, supervision and training records and various records about how the service was managed.

We spoke to eight people who use the service, three of their relatives, one care co-ordinator, four care workers and a manager.

Updated 15 May 2015

This inspection took place over two days. The first visit was on 8 January 2015 and was unannounced. Another visit was made on 20 January 2015 on that day the provider knew we would return.

St Martha’s at Home is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection they were 76 people using the service.

We last inspected the service in January 2014. At that inspection we found the service was meeting all the regulations that we inspected.

No registered manager was in place at the time of our inspection. The manager advised us they had applied to become a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 provider had not undertaken the necessary checks to ensure staff were suitable to work with vulnerable people. Staff we spoke to were not aware of safeguarding procedures and had not received any training on this subject.

People’s risk assessments were not regularly reviewed therefore we could not be sure they were an accurate reflection of people’s risk and needs.

We found care plans contained little personalised information about the person and their preferences. We saw care plans were not up to date and did not reflect a person’s current needs.

People told us they did not have any complaints about the service and all said they would contact the office if any arose.

Training records were not up to date and staff did not receive regular supervisions and appraisals, which meant that staff were not properly supported to provide care to people who used the service.

We were told by people using the service and their relatives that most of their health care appointments were arranged by themselves or their relatives. One service user told us, “If I’m poorly the girls get the Doctor for me and always look after me”.

People told us that care workers were caring and compassionate. One person said, “Staff are very caring.” Another told us, “My carer is excellent, we have a lovely relationship”.

People told us that they had very little communication from the staff in the office. Another commented, “I never get the same person to speak to when I ring the office; they have not been out to see me for a long time”.

Staff told us they gave people privacy whilst they undertook aspects of personal care, but ensured they were nearby to maintain the person’s safety, for example if they were at risk of falls.

The provider did not have effective quality assurance processes to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided and to ensure that people received appropriate care and support.

We found policies and procedures relating to the running of the service had not been reviewed and maintained to ensure that staff had access to up to date information and guidance.

The manager told us they had introduced a new memo system to improve the communication with staff.

During our inspection we identified five breaches of regulation. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.