Archived: Geolis Care

Updated 8 July 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 inspection took place on 31 May and 01 June 2017. The provider was given 48 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we wanted to visit the office, talk to staff and review records. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return (PIR) prior to our inspection. This 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. During this inspection, we asked the provider to tell us about improvements they had made or any they had planned.

As part of the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and consulted other relevant organisations. This included contacting the care commissioners at Trafford Council, Healthwatch Trafford and two healthcare professionals involved with people using the service. The health care professionals involved with people using the service all gave us very positive feedback about Geolis Care.

During our inspection we spoke with the registered provider and three care workers. We visited two people who used the service in their own homes. We also spoke with one person’s relative.

We spent the first day of the inspection at the service’s office speaking with the registered provider and looking at records. These included two people's care records, two staff recruitment files, staff training records, various policies and procedures and other documents relating to the management of the service.

Updated 8 July 2017

We inspected Geolis Care on 31 May and 01 June 2017. We gave the provider 48 hours' notice we would be visiting the office to make sure the appropriate people would be there to assist us with our inspection.

At the time of our inspection, Geolis Care was providing support to four people in the Trafford area. Care workers were supporting the people using the service in a range of ways, including assistance with washing and dressing, social outings, meal preparation and domestic tasks such as cleaning.

The service was not required to have a registered manager as the provider was registered as an individual. This meant he acted as the provider and manager of the service. Registered providers 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.

At the last inspection we found issues with the way medicines administration had been recorded. At this inspection we found medicines were now being recorded safely.

At the last inspection we found that the registered provider did not document interviews for new care workers or record how any gaps in their employment history had been explored. We found these issues had not been fully rectified at this inspection.

At the inspection we found there had been some improvements made in relation to assessing people’s mental capacity and recording people’s medicines safely. However, we have identified continued breaches in relation to recruitment of new staff, training and the undertaking of a quality assurance system was still not being completed.

At the last inspection people known or thought to lack mental capacity had not been assessed for their ability to make decisions or give consent to care. At this inspection we found nobody receiving the service lacked capacity, therefore mental capacity assessments did not need to be completed by the service.

Newly recruited care workers did not receive a full induction and the provision of training for all care workers was poor. In addition, care workers did not receive formal supervision or appraisal.

The registered provider did not monitor, audit or quality assure the service for safety or care quality.

People saw regular care workers and told us that they arrived on time and stayed for the full duration of the time allotted for each care visit.

People told us that they felt safe with the care workers. We noted from the training matrix safeguarding adults training was not provided to staff. However, staff we spoke with could give examples of the different forms of abuse they needed to look out for and said they would report any concerns to the registered provider.

The people receiving support with food shopping and meal preparation gave us positive feedback about this aspect of their care. Those supported by care workers to make appointments with other healthcare professionals were also satisfied with the assistance they received.

None of the people or relatives we spoke with had made a formal complaint. All of the people we spoke with said they felt able to speak directly to the registered provider if they had any problems.

We found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulation 2014.

You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.