12 February 2020
During a routine inspection
St. Michael's Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 46 older people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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
Since our last inspection, the provider had made improvements to their systems around the management of people’s medicines and the auditing of people’s care and medicines records.
The manager had a good understanding of their role and had put systems and processes in place to improve quality and safety. People told us the management staff were approachable and listened to their feedback.
There were systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the care. The provider had used technology to enhance the safe delivery of care.
The provider did not complete the Provider Information Return in the timescale requested by The Care Quality Commission. As this requirement was not met, the rating for the key question well led is requires improvement.
People told us they were happy with their care and that recent changes had given them more consistency in care call times and staffing. People’s care was in line with their preferences and needs.
Staff received appropriate training, induction and ongoing support in their role. They had a good understanding of people’s needs and treated them with respect.
There were systems in place to protect people from the risks of suffering abuse or harm. The provider’s assessment processes identified key risks to people and staff and measures to reduce the risk of harm.
There were appropriate systems in place to gain people’s consent to care.
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; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 15 March 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when they would improve.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.