Archived: Intouch Care Services Limited

Updated 9 May 2019

The inspection: We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.’

Inspection team: One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type: InTouch Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to children and adults living in their own homes. Not everyone using Intouch Care Services Limited receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by children and young people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. For people the provider helps with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating, we also consider any wider social care provided.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission who had left recently. The provider was in the process applying to become the registered manager and their application had been accepted by the Commission. This means that they are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection: This inspection was announced so that we could meet with the provider at the office location.

What we did: Before inspection we reviewed information, we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse; and we sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually 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.

We spoke with six relatives of people who used the service via telephone interview. We spoke with four members of staff including the manager and three care workers. We received written feedback from two commissioners of the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records. We looked at multiple records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider.

Updated 9 May 2019

About the service: InTouch Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency. They provide personal care and support to children and younger adults with disabilities and older people living in their own homes in the Walsall area. At the time of our visit there were six people receiving the service.

People’s experience of using this service: At this inspection we found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. These related to person-centred care, safe care and treatment and governance.

The service did not consistently mitigate risks. People's risk assessments did not consistently cover all potential areas of risk, such as bed rails, and managing behaviour. We looked at the systems in place for medicines management and found they were not always effective.

People felt safe in the care of staff members and were happy with staffing levels. However, they told us staff did not always arrive on time and staffing was not always consistent. We asked the manager to explore this issue and to look at systems to improve staffing.

Care plans did not reflect people's preferences or routines in all cases.

Systems were in place to ensure that staff received appropriate supervision to support them in their roles. However, training records were not up to date and some specialist training could not be verified. Checks made on the ongoing competency of staff had lapsed from May 2018. We received feedback that some relatives had concerns over the competency of staff to support people effectively.

The provider’s systems and processes in place to monitor and audit had not identified the areas for improvement found. Records management needed improvements regarding medicines, risk assessments, care plans, staff records and quality monitoring of the service. People and staff members were asked their views via regular surveys.

The provider had appropriate systems in place to support staff to raise any safeguarding concerns. Staff had access to appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to help prevent the spread of infection.

People were supported to eat meals of their choosing and were supported to access healthcare professionals when necessary.

People told us care staff were caring and kind. Some people told us that timekeeping was an issue and also the consistency of staff that arrived to support people.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the service was rated good (report published July 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will monitor all intelligence received about the service to inform the assessment of the risk profile of the service and to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.

More information is in the detailed findings below.