First Choice Home Care

Updated 15 October 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors 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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to make arrangements to contact people using the service.

Inspection activity started on 11 August 2022 and ended on 26 August 2022. We visited the location’s office on 12 August 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 people who use the service and 10 relatives of people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the Area manager and four care workers for the service. We reviewed a range of records. This included five people's care records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at further evidence sent to us by the manager regarding quality assurance, including policies and procedures.

Updated 15 October 2022

About the service

First Choice Home Care provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Not everyone supported by 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. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 60 people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Quality assurance systems and processes at the service were not always effective.

There was not always enough staff to meet people’s needs, the service had used their contingency plan to ensure people remained safe.

Medicines audits were not sufficient in fully identifying the circumstances behind identified errors.

Recruitment processes were not robust. The provider had not followed up on peoples work history or gaps in their employment, however the provider is reviewing their recruitment procedure.

People told us they felt safe with staff, and staff had received safeguarding training.

We received positive feedback from people about the provider's infection prevention and control processes. People told us staff always wore protective equipment appropriately.

Care files were shaped around people's preferences and support needs. Goals were set to support people achieve their wishes.

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

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

Why we inspected

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

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full 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.