Archived: Connections Care Ltd

Connections Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults living in their own home. During our inspection visit, the service was caring for 56 people. 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 and relatives were overwhelmingly positive about staff and told us the service provided safe care. However, during this inspection, we found some aspects of the service were not always safe or well managed.

Medicines were not always managed safely. We found some risks to people’s care had not been assessed and the provider had not kept an appropriate oversight that equipment used by staff to move people had passed the required safety checks. These areas were discussed during the inspection, and immediate action taken. There was a safeguarding procedure in place, staff had received training and were aware of signs of abuse and what action to take. Infection and prevention measures were in place to ensure people and staff were safe. Recruitment was mostly managed safely but gaps in employment were not consistently explored.

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. However, we found the provider was not recording relevant discussions and decisions about the care of people who lacked capacity to make decisions.

Quality assurance measures in place had not always been effective in identifying or addressing the issues found during this inspection. We found records were not always detailed or complete and management oversight had not always been robust in ensuring the service was always safe.

We received positive feedback about the management team being approachable and responsive. People using the service and their relatives told us about the positive impact that the service had on their lives and told us they would recommend the service. During this inspection, the provider was receptive to the inspection’s findings and acted on the issues identified or told us the actions they would take.

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 on 23 August 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to how consent was recorded, safe care of people and management of the service at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to adults of all ages. Some of the people who used the service had mental health needs or were living with a dementia type illness.

Not everyone using Connections Care Ltd receives the regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

On the days of our inspection there were 61 people using the service, 47 were receiving the regulated activity.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC to manage the service. Like 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 registered manager had recently left the service and the service manager was applying to be registered with CQC.

We last inspected the service in January 2016 and rated the service as ‘Good’. At this inspection we found the service remained ‘Good’ and met all the fundamental standards we inspected against.

Risk assessments were in place for people who used the service and staff. The registered manager understood their responsibilities with regard to safeguarding and staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults.

Appropriate arrangements were in place to support people with the administration of medicines.

There were sufficient numbers of staff on duty in order to meet the needs of people who used the service. The provider had an effective recruitment and selection procedure in place and carried out relevant vetting checks when they employed staff. Staff were suitably trained and received regular supervisions and appraisals.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives, and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were protected from the risk of poor nutrition and staff were aware of people’s nutritional needs. People were supported with their health care needs and to attend appointments where necessary.

People who used the service and family members were complimentary about the standard of care at Connections Care Ltd. One family member raised some concerns with us that we discussed with the service manager and saw these were being dealt with via the complaints process.

Staff treated people with dignity and respect and helped to maintain people’s independence by encouraging them to care for themselves where possible.

Care records showed that people’s needs were assessed before they started using the service and support plans were written in a person-centred way. Person-centred means ensuring the person is at the centre of any care or support plans and their individual wishes, needs and choices are taken into account.

People were protected from social isolation and supported to access the community.

The provider had an effective quality assurance process in place. Staff said they felt supported by the management team. People who used the service, family members and staff were regularly consulted about the quality of the service.

Connections Care Limited provides care and support to people in Leeds and surrounding areas. The agency's office is situated in Middleton. They offer a range of services to individuals who live in their own homes and need support or care.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

People we spoke with told us they were very happy with the care they received from the service.

People who used the service told us they felt safe with the staff and the care they were provided with. We found there were systems in place to protect people from risk of harm and appropriate recruitment procedures were in place. There were policies and procedures in place in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and staff showed they understood how to ensure their practice was in line with the MCA.

We found people were cared for, or supported by, appropriately trained staff. Staff received support to help them understand how to deliver good care. People who used the service said their visit times suited their wishes and staff always stayed the agreed length of time. Some people told us that calls were sometimes late, but they were always notified of this by a call from the office or care worker.

We looked at six staff personnel files in detail and saw the recruitment process in place ensured that staff were suitable and safe to work in the agency. Staff we spoke with told us they received supervisions and had annual appraisals carried out by the registered manager. We saw minutes from staff meetings which showed they had taken place on a regular basis and were well attended by staff.

The seven care/support plans we looked at were person centred and were reviewed on a regular basis to make sure they provided accurate and up to date information and were fit for purpose.

People told us they got the support they needed with meals and healthcare. We saw arrangements for medication were safe.

Systems were in place to monitor the quality and safety of service provision and we found there were appropriate systems in place for the management of complaints.