Care 4 U Care Limited

Updated 8 August 2023

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The Expert by Experience made calls to people and relatives about their experience of using the service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we carried out the inspection remotely and needed to arrange an initial video call with appropriate people from the management team.

Inspection activity started on 7 July 2023 and ended on 11 July 2023.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location's office. We used technology such as video calls, telephone calls and emails to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

During the inspection

We spoke with 7 people who use the service and 4 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with and obtained feedback from 6 members of staff including the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people's care records, and medication records. A variety of documents relating to the management of the service, including policies, stakeholder feedback and action plans were reviewed.

Updated 8 August 2023

About the service

Care 4 U Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. 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. At the time of the inspection, the service provided personal care to 27 people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People's risks were assessed and reviewed. We made a recommendation about medicines and training.

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.

Governance systems were not effective and needed strengthening and embedding into practice. There was a positive culture throughout the service, people and families felt safe and were happy with the support provided to them. Feedback was gathered from people, staff, and relatives to help identify where improvements or changes needed to be made. The provider did not understand their legal responsibilities and what to do when things went wrong.

People were supported by staff that knew them well and were kind and caring in their approach. Relatives said they were happy with the care people received and had confidence in the registered manager.

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 (published 25 October 2017)

Why we inspected

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

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this information. Please see the well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Care 4 U Care Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to management and oversight at this inspection. We have made two recommendations about medicines and training.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

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.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.