Archived: VitalCare Services Limited

Updated 6 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 on the 11 and 12 December 2014. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service for people in their own homes and staff might be out visiting people. One inspector undertook the inspection. A second inspector carried out telephone interviews with staff.

During our inspection we went to the office of the service and spoke to the provider, training officer and an administrator. We reviewed the care records for eight people using the service, the employment folders for eight staff and records relating to the management of the service. After the inspection visit we undertook phone calls to three people using the service, 2 relatives and eight members of staff.

Updated 6 May 2015

We undertook an announced inspection of VitalCare Services Limited Domiciliary Care Agency (DCA) on 11 and 12 December 2014. We told the provider we would be inspecting two days prior to our inspection because they are a small domiciliary care provider and we needed to make sure they would be in when we inspected.

VitalCare Services Limited provided personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection ten people were receiving a personal care service with seven people who usually received care being in hospital. All the people receiving care had their care purchased by the local authority.

The service did not have a registered manager. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. We have not received an application for a registered manager since the inspection.

The provider did not meet all of the regulations we inspected against at our last inspection on 5 November 2013. We found the provider was not meeting the legal requirements in relation to having appropriate systems in place for recruitment and monitoring the quality of care provided.

Staff knew which external organisations to contact if they had any concerns relating to the care being provided.

People and relatives were happy with the staff that currently visited them. They also felt their privacy and dignity was respected by staff who provided their care. Staff understood how to maintain a person’s privacy and dignity whilst providing personal care.

Staff understood the terms equality and diversity and how that influenced the way they provided care and support.

Staff felt they received encouragement from the senior staff, there was good communication and the culture of service was very positive.

We found a number of breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. These related to management of risk, administration of medicines, Mental Capacity Act (2005), nutrition, involvement in care plans, staff training and support and monitoring the quality of the service. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.