Archived: Mineral Homecare Ltd

We last inspected Mineral Homecare Limited on 28 June and 10 July 2017 and rated the service as “Requires Improvement”. At this time the service was known as First Contact Healthcare Limited (Stroud). At the 2017 inspection the provider was not meeting all of the required regulations. We found people were at risk of being cared for by unsuitable staff because robust recruitment processes were not in place. We also made a recommendation to the provider in respect to their good governance systems they operated as a new business. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and sustained by the provider and we rated the service as “Good.”

The service had a registered manager, who was also the provider of the service. 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 had implemented robust recruitment processes to ensure all care staff were of good character. The provider had implemented systems to monitor, assess and improve the quality of service they provided to people. The provider had recruited a manager who was registering with CQC. The provider also had plans to further develop management systems for the service.

People told us they felt safe and comfortable when receiving support from care staff. People and their relatives felt their needs were met by skilled and dedicated care staff. People and their relatives spoke positively about the care and support they received. People received support which was personalised to their needs, including support with their personal hygiene needs and support with their prescribed medicines. People and their relatives told us they felt listened to and could not fault the care they received.

Care staff spoke confidently about the support they received. Care staff had the skills and training they needed to meet people’s needs. Care staff received support from the provider and manager and told us their professional development was promoted.

This was the first time the CQC had inspected First Contact Healthcare Limited (Stroud).

The service had a registered manager, who was also the provider of the service. 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 registered manager did not always operate robust systems to ensure care staff were of good character. The registered manager had some systems in place to monitor the quality of service people received. However improvement was needed in how these systems were managed to ensure shortfalls would always be identified and action taken to improve the service and manage risks. We made a recommendation about the management of governance systems in the service.

People told us they felt safe and comfortable when receiving support from care staff. People felt their needs were met by skilled and dedicated care staff. People spoke confidently about the registered manager and were happy with the care and support they received. People received support which was personalised to their needs, including support with their personal hygiene needs and support with their prescribed medicines. People told us they felt listened to and could not fault the care they received.

Care staff spoke confidently about the support they received. Care staff had the skills and training they needed to meet people’s needs. Care staff received support from the registered manager and their professional development was promoted.

We found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what actions we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.