Background to this inspection
Updated
15 May 2021
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
We checked whether the provider had met the requirements of the Warning Notice in relation to Regulation 18 (Staffing) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 on specific concerns we had about people receiving visits as planned and staff training.
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.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave a short period of notice of the inspection to make arrangements for information to be shared with the commission in advance of the inspection visit.
Inspection activity started on 23 April 2021 and ended on 28 April 2021. We visited the office location on 27 April 2021.
What we did before the 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 prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with 10 people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We received feedback from 22 members of staff and two professionals with experience of the service. We met with the registered manager.
We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records, visit monitoring records and a sample of accident and incident reports. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.
Updated
15 May 2021
About the service
4USupport Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own home. The service operates within a six-mile radius of the Plymouth area. At the time of the inspection 79 people were using the service.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us staff were punctual and stayed for the allotted time. Since the previous inspection the registered manager had built travel time into staff rotas. This meant staff were able to spend the allotted time with people without it impacting on the following visit times. An electronic system had been established which enabled the registered manager to monitor visit times and highlight when people required longer or shorter visits.
People told us they felt safe when being supported by staff from 4USupport. When the service assessed people’s needs any risks to people’s health were highlighted and staff received guidance on how to support people to minimise those risks.
Staff received training to equip them with the skills and knowledge they needed to support people safely and in line with their preferences. Regular competency assessments were completed to help ensure staff continued to support people in line with their 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.
The service worked collaboratively with other organisations, alerting relevant agencies when people were seen to need additional support. Communication between the office and staff had been identified as an area for improvement and action was being taken to address this.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (report published 9 November 2020).
At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 11 and 14 October 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. We carried out a focused inspection in October 2020 and found the provider remained in breach of the regulations. We issued a warning notice. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve staff deployment and training.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for 4USupport on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.