The Care Bureau Domiciliary and Nursing Agency Kettering

Updated 18 June 2022

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.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector supported by two Experts 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 homes.

The service did not have a registered manager in place as the previous registered manager had resigned just before the inspection. The provider had recruited another manager who was due to commence within a month of the inspection visit. This means that the provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted due to concerns received about alleged poor care to some people and people receiving short care calls. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service five days’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the regional manager would be in the office to support the inspection. We also gave time for the regional manager to send us inspection information, so we did not have to spend an extended amount of time in the office of the service.

Inspection activity started on 11 May and ended on 12 May 2022. We visited the office location on 12 May 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service and we sought feedback from the local authority. The provider sent us a provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with one person who used the service about their experience of the care provided, and 16 relatives. We also spoke with three care staff members, the regional manager and the assistant to the regional manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included three care records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found, which was sent to us.

Updated 18 June 2022

The Care Bureau Domiciliary and Nursing Agency Kettering is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, 42 people were receiving personal care from the service. 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.

Enough staff were employed to meet people's needs. In most cases, timely calls and calls of assessed need were in place to provide personal care, though this was not always the case

Evidence of follow up to concerns or complaints were not always in place, though this had improved recently.

A person provided with personal care, and relatives we spoke with, were positive about the care that staff provided and with the management of the agency.

Safe care was provided, with protection against abuse, neglect and discrimination.

Details of how to reduce risks to people's safety were included in people's care plans. Care plans reflected people’s individual needs.

Safe recruitment practices were in place to ensure only suitable staff worked at the service.

Quality assurance systems were in place to try to ensure people were provided with a quality service.

The regional manager understood their responsibilities and worked in an open and transparent way.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 17 July 2018).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to unsafe care being provided, untimely calls and concerns regarding the management of the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has remained as good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for The Care Bureau Kettering 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 reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.