Archived: Beecholme Support Services

At our last inspection on 08 March 2016 we rated the service as ‘requires improvement’ and identified two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. We found references were not always sought for new employees, and there were no auditing systems in place to ensure directors had robust oversight of the service. These related to regulations 17 and 18. We asked the provider to send us an action plan. At our most recent inspection we saw the provider had taken sufficient action to meet legal requirements.

Beecholme Support Services provides care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time we inspected there were 19 people using the service.

There was a registered manager 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.

People told us they felt safe using the service, and we saw risks associated with care and support were well assessed and documented. There was clear and detailed guidance for staff to show how risks could be minimised. People were further protected because the provider followed safer recruitment practices, medicines were managed safely, and staff understood the principles of safeguarding.

People had not always received information about who would attend their calls; however the provider had recognised this and was taking action to improve. We saw there were sufficient staff to provide care and support; and call management systems were in place to ensure staff had time to travel between calls.

Staff received sufficient induction and training to be effective in their roles, and people told us staff used this training to provide effective care and support. Staff said they were supported by the provider with regular supervisions, and although some turnover of senior staff had caused delays in this process the registered manager had taken action to improve.

People told us they made choices in relation to their care and support, and we found staff had good knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA).

People told us they were happy with the support they received with their meals.

We received positive feedback about the caring nature of staff. People told us they had good relationships with staff and that staff worked to protect their privacy and dignity. The provider was able to demonstrate good practices in relation to matters of equality and diversity, and we saw people were supported to maintain their independence as much as possible.

The provider worked with people, their families and other health and social care professionals to assess people’s needs before they began to use the service. We saw people were encouraged to be involved in the writing of their care plans. Care plans were regularly reviewed and staff were informed of any changes.

There were robust systems and policies in place to ensure complaints and concerns were responded to appropriately.

We received good feedback about management in the service. Staff told us they liked working for the company and would be happy for their families to use the service.

The provider had continued to develop quality monitoring activities in the service. We have made a recommendation about further improvements that could be made.

The inspection took place on 8 March 2016, and was announced.

Beecholme Support Services is a domiciliary care service which provides support to people across Wakefield. Currently the service supports older people and people living with a diagnosis of dementia.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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 who used the service and their relatives told us they felt safe with the care staff that supported them.

We found that whilst there were risk assessments in place they were not always correctly completed and some were incomplete as there was no risk level identified.

There were sufficient staff to provide the care visits which were planned safely and to allow a regular team of care staff to attend people regularly.

There had been evidence of missed and very late calls in the later part of 2015. Records showed and people we spoke with confirmed that the situation had significantly improved since this time and people told us they now received a good reliable service.

The recruitment process which was in place was not always followed prior to care staff starting to work independently. We found two instances where care staff did not have the relevant employment references in place.

This was a breach of Regulation 19 Fit and proper persons employed of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

We found there were risk assessments and accurate records in place for the medicines which people required support with. We found that medicines were managed safely by staff who had undertaken relevant training.

Staff had received moving and handling, safeguarding and medication training, however they had not all received other training necessary to their roles.

We found the service carried out regular spot checks of staff that were supporting people in their own homes; they did not always receive supervision as regularly as they should. This had been identified and was being addressed.

We saw from the care files we reviewed that the registered provider was seeking and gaining consent for care from the people they supported.

Staff were kind, caring and compassionate and maintained people’s privacy. People told us care staff treated them with dignity.

We found that some of the care plans which were in place were person-centred and detailed whilst others were not. This had been identified by the registered provider and was being addressed.

The processes which were in place to audit and monitor the quality and safety of the service were being developed and were not yet complete. There was clear evidence the registered provider understood the need to collect key information, however they were yet to put in place processes to collate and analyse the information they gathered.

This was a breach of Regulation 17 Good governance of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

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