Archived: Medic2 UK Limited - Basildon

Updated 3 February 2016

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 on 17, 22 and 28 September 2015 and was unannounced.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

We reviewed the information we held about the service including safeguarding alerts and other notifications. This refers specifically to incidents, events and changes the provider and manager are required to notify us about by law.

We spoke with four people who used the service, three members of care staff and the registered provider who was available on the first day of inspection.

We reviewed six people’s care plans and care records. We looked at the service’s staff support records for four members of staff. We also looked at the service’s arrangements for the management of complaints, compliments, safeguarding information and the provider’s quality monitoring and audit information. 2015

Updated 3 February 2016

Medic2 UK Limited Basildon provides personal care and support to people in their own homes.

The inspection was completed on 17, 22 and 28 September 2015. At the time of the inspection there were eight people who used the service.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 23 January, 25 January, 28 January and 29 January 2015. Several breaches of legal requirements were found and these related to poor risk management, poor medicines management, poor staff recruitment procedures, insufficient staff to meet people’s care and support needs, poor induction, training and supervision for staff and poor complaints management. In addition, the provider did not have suitable arrangements in place to effectively monitor and assess the quality and safety of the service provided. After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to the breach. We undertook a focussed inspection on 6 May 2015 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met the legal requirements pertaining to quality assurance. Whilst significant progress had been met to meet the regulatory requirement, improvements were still required in relation to the provider’s arrangements for quality assurance.

A registered manager was in post. 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 provider told us that an application to cancel the location’s registration had recently been made to the Care Quality Commission. The provider confirmed that the Local Authority had been notified and they were assisting the service to find alternative domiciliary care providers for existing care packages to transfer to. It was envisaged that the service would close on 11 October 2015.

Proper recruitment checks had not been completed on all staff before they commenced working at the service. Recruitment practices were not safe and had not been operated in line with the provider’s own policy and procedures. Formal arrangements were not in place to ensure that newly employed staff received a comprehensive and robust induction.

The systems in place to deal with comments and complaints required improvement as there was little evidence to show how actions, decisions and outcomes of concerns raised had been made. The provider did not have an effective and proactive quality monitoring and assurance system in place to ensure that the service performed to an appropriate standard so as to drive improvement.

Appropriate arrangements were in place to manage risks to people’s safety. Risks for people had been identified or anticipated and there were sufficient staff available to meet people’s care and support needs. People received their medicines at the times they needed them and people’s healthcare needs were managed well and they received appropriate nutrition and hydration each day.

Staff had received applicable training to enable them to deliver care and support to people who used the service. Formal arrangements were in place to ensure that staff were supported and received formal supervision.

People spoke positively about the way staff treated them and reported that they received appropriate care. Staff demonstrated a good knowledge and understanding of the people they cared for and supported. People told us that their personal care and support was provided in a way which maintained their privacy and dignity. We found that people’s care plans reflected current information to guide staff on the most appropriate care people required to meet their needs.

You can see what actions we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.