Archived: Divine Global Health Unique Care

Updated 15 March 2017

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.

The office visit took place on 14 February 2017 and was announced. We told the provider we would be coming so they could ensure they would be available to speak with us and arrange for us to speak with care workers. The inspection was conducted by two inspectors.

Before we visited Divine Global Health Unique Care we reviewed the information we held about the service, for example, the Statement of Purpose for the service and the Provider Information Return (PIR). A Statement of Purpose is a legally required document that includes a standard set of information about a provider’s service. A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We were able to review the information in the PIR during our inspection.

We also contacted the local authority commissioners to find out their views of the service provided by Divine Global Unique Health Care. Commissioners are people who contract care and support services provided to people. They had no further information to tell us that we were not already aware of.

We conducted telephone interviews with four people who used the service and two relatives of people to obtain their views of the service they received.

During our inspection we spoke with the provider and the office administrator. Due to work commitments staff were not able to meet with us on the day of our visit. We were provided with staffs contact details and attempted to speak with all six staff over the next seven days. However, only two were available to talk with us.

We reviewed five people's care records to see how their care and support was planned and delivered. We checked five staff files to see whether staff had been recruited safely and were trained to deliver the care and support people required. We also looked at other records related to people's care and how the service operated; including checks management took to be assured that people received a good quality service.

Updated 15 March 2017

Divine Global Health Unique Care is a domiciliary care agency which is registered to provide personal care support to people in their own homes. At the time of our visit the agency supported five people with personal care and employed six care workers.

We visited the offices of Divine Global Health Unique Care on 14 February 2017. The inspection was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our inspection. This was to make sure we could meet with the provider of the service and staff on the day of our office visit.

Before our visit we had been informed by the provider they had moved the provider’s address and the location address from which the service was operating. However, our records showed the provider had not completed the necessary forms to add the new location to their registration. This meant the provider was in breach of their condition of registration that allows them to operate from a specific location. The provider told us they would take immediate action to submit the required applications to us.

The information in this report relates to the service provided from the provider address at 4a Clements Street, Coventry and not the location, 9 St Catherine Close, Coventry as stated on the front of this report.

This was the first inspection of Divine Global Health Unique Care since they registered with us in June 2015. The provider told us following their registration they had provided a regulated service to people up to June 2016. There was then a period when the service was not operating until support for people currently using the service had been started from December 2016 onwards.

The service had a registered manager. A requirement of the provider’s registration is that they 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The provider is the registered manager of this service and will be referred to as ‘the provider’ throughout this report.

Some staff had not been recruited safely because the provider had not requested all the required pre-employment checks prior to staff starting work. This meant people were at risk of being supported by staff who were unsuitable to work with people who used the service.

Care workers had not completed an induction when they started working at the service. Care workers had not received all the training required to meet people’s needs effectively and their practice was not being checked to make sure they worked in line with the provider’s policies and procedures. Care workers were not familiar with the provider’s policies and procedures. This meant staff did not have a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities.

The provider had not established procedures to check and monitor the quality and safety of the service people received. This meant the provider was not aware of potential poor practice and areas where improvement was necessary.

People’s care records lacked detail, and some were not up to date and therefore did not provide staff with information about how people should be cared for and supported. This meant staff did not always have the information they needed to support people safely and effectively. However, overall staff spoken with had an understanding of the needs and preferences of the people they supported.

The provider’s systems to identify and manage risk associated with people’s safety and well-being and to ensure medicines were managed safely were not always effective. However, people saw health professionals when needed. Support was given to people who required help with eating and drinking.

People and relatives told us they knew how to raise any concerns and felt these would be listened and responded to effectively. Staff felt supported by the management team.

There were enough care workers to provide care at the agreed times. People received their care and support from care workers who they knew and people and relatives were involved in planning their care. Care workers respected people’s privacy and dignity.

The managers had some understanding of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and their responsibilities under the act. Care workers gained people’s consent before they provided personal care and respected people’s decisions.

People told us their care workers were caring and friendly and in their opinion had the right skills and knowledge to provide the care and support required. People were supported with dignity and respect. Care workers encouraged people to be independent where possible.

People and relatives told us they felt safe using the service and care workers understood how to protect people from abuse. People and relatives were involved in planning their initial care.

We found a number of breaches 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.