Multiple Care Solutions Ltd

On this page

• Overview
• Learning culture
• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
• Safeguarding
• Involving people to manage risks
• Safe environments
• Safe and effective staffing
• Infection prevention and control
• Medicines optimisation

Safe – this means we looked for evidence that people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated good. This meant people were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

This service scored 72 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a proactive and positive culture of safety, based on openness and honesty. Staff listened to concerns about safety and investigated and reported safety events. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice.

The service has only been operational since December 2024. The registered manager told us to date there had not been any significant accidents or incidents, safeguarding allegations or complaints received. We found no evidence to contradict this. The registered manager demonstrated a good understanding of how to respond to any such incident. Relevant policies were in place setting out guidance about how to respond if necessary.

The provider worked with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed or monitored. They made sure there was continuity of care, including when people moved between different services.

At the time of this assessment, the provider had only taken on privately funded people, already living in their own homes. This meant there had been no need to work with other health and social care providers with a transition from another care setting or provider. The provided worked with people themselves and their relatives to help ensure a smooth start to their care, including completing pre-care assessments of people’s needs.

The provider worked with people and healthcare partners to understand what being safe meant to them and the best way to achieve that. Staff concentrated on improving people’s lives while protecting their right to live in safety, free from bullying, harassment, abuse, discrimination, avoidable harm and neglect. The provider shared concerns quickly and appropriately.

The registered manager told us there had not been any safeguarding allegations since the service became operational. Appropriate systems were in place to help protect people from abuse and neglect. The provider had relevant policies in place including safeguarding adults and whistleblowing. The safeguarding policy made clear the providers responsibility for reporting any allegations of abuse to the local authority and Care Quality Commission. Staff had undertaken training about safeguarding adults, and understood their responsibility to report suspected abuse. A staff member told us, “First of all I would ask the service user about it [suspected abuse], then I would let my manager know. If they don’t do anything I would contact CQC or the local authority.”

The provider detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care.

As this is a domiciliary care service, providing support to people who live in their own homes, the provider had only limited responsibility for ensuring the physical environment was safe. However, as mentioned, risk assessments were in place relating to the environment, which covered things such as slip and trip hazards in the person’s home.

The provider detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care.

As this is a domiciliary care service, providing support to people who live in their own homes, the provider had only limited responsibility for ensuring the physical environment was safe. However, as mentioned, risk assessments were in place relating to the environment, which covered things such as slip and trip hazards in the person’s home.

The provider made sure there were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff, who received effective support, supervision and development. They worked together well to provide safe care that met people’s individual needs.

The registered manager told us as they only had 2 people using the service, it was easy to monitor staff punctuality. They added if the service grew they had plans to introduce a system of electronic monitoring to check staff punctuality and that staff stayed for the full amount of time. The registered manager told us there had been some instances of lateness from a member of staff and this had been addressed with them during supervision. Records confirmed this and a member of staff told us, “I had an issue with timings in the beginning, they called me in and we talked about time management.” A person told us, “My carer comes on time.”

The provider had carried out checks on prospective staff to test their suitability to work in the care sector. These included carrying our criminal record checks, obtaining references and proof of identification. A staff member told us about their recruitment process, saying, “I went in for an interview with [registered manager]. They took my references."

The provider made sure there were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff, who received effective support, supervision and development. They worked together well to provide safe care that met people’s individual needs.

The registered manager told us as they only had 2 people using the service, it was easy to monitor staff punctuality. They added if the service grew they had plans to introduce a system of electronic monitoring to check staff punctuality and that staff stayed for the full amount of time. The registered manager told us there had been some instances of lateness from a member of staff and this had been addressed with them during supervision. Records confirmed this and a member of staff told us, “I had an issue with timings in the beginning, they called me in and we talked about time management.” A person told us, “My carer comes on time.”

The provider had carried out checks on prospective staff to test their suitability to work in the care sector. These included carrying our criminal record checks, obtaining references and proof of identification. A staff member told us about their recruitment process, saying, “I went in for an interview with [registered manager]. They took my references."

The provider did not always make sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. Staff did not always involve people in planning.

At the time of our inspection no one was receiving support with taking their medicines. However, the service did provide this service to a person for a short time in December 2024. We saw that staff had undertaken training in medicine administration and there was a policy in place to provide guidance. Medicine Administration records [MARs] were maintained by the provider. These set out the name and time of each medicine to be administered. However, they did not include the strength of each medicine, and staff did not sign after each dose, they just ticked to confirm it a been given. This meant there was not a clear audit trail. The registered manager told us they carried out an audit of completed MARs, but this was just a visual check and they did not keep a written record of the audit. The registered manager said they would address these issues if and when they started to provide support with medicines again in the future. It was noted that the MAR charts indicated that medicines had been given as required, and there were no errors with the administration of medicines.