The Care Bureau Ltd - Domiciliary Care - Wellingborough

The Care Bureau Wellingborough is a domiciliary care agency. It provided personal care to 102 people living in their own homes at the time of the inspection.

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 said the staff provided safe, good care. They told us the staff were caring and they got on well with them. A relative told us their relative had a good relationship with their care staff.

People were risk assessed when they began using the service and staff knew how to keep them safe. Staff provided personalised care and were knowledgeable about people's preferences as to how they wanted their care provided.

Relatives were satisfied with the times of the calls; however, people had reported care staff being late on occasions. The provider said the service had done its best to get to people on time during the COVID-19 pandemic and staff would continue to strive to be as punctual as possible.

Staff protected people from the spread of infection. They were trained in infection prevention and control and used the required personal protective equipment including masks, gloves, aprons and goggles as necessary. The provider kept staff up to date with any improvements or changes to infection control policies and procedures. The provider audited all aspects of the service to help ensure people were receiving good quality, safe care.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, peoples’, relatives' and staff views were collected by phone and surveys. The staff worked in partnership with local health and social care professionals to ensure people accessed services they were entitled to.

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 19 March 2020).

Why we inspected

We received information of concern about infection control and prevention measures at this service. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection control and prevention measures the provider had in place.

We inspected and received some further concerns which required further investigation, so we widened the scope of the inspection to become a focused inspection which included the key questions of safe and well-led.

The overall rating for the service has remained the same. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It currently provides personal care to 93 people living in their own homes.

People’s experience of using this service

People told us they felt safe with staff and they were treated well. However, improvements were required to ensure the service was well managed and focused on people’s needs, preferences and requirements. Quality assurance processes were insufficient. There were some auditing systems in place however they had failed to review key elements related to people’s care needs, particularly in relation to the timeliness and length of people’s care.

People were protected from abuse, staff were knowledgeable about safeguarding procedures and the management team completed in depth investigations following accidents and incidents to help prevent similar occurrences.

Risk assessments were in place to manage risks within people’s lives, and staff we spoke with felt safe supporting people with a wide range of needs. Staff recruitment procedures ensured that appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out. Staff were trained to support people effectively.

People’s nutritional needs were monitored, and people were supported to eat and drink well. Healthcare needs were met, and people had access to health professionals as required. Care plans outlined any support people required to manage their healthcare needs.

People's consent was gained before any care was provided. People were supported in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice

Care plans reflected peoples’ likes, dislikes and preferences. A complaints system was in place and used effectively.

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 30 September 2017).

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.

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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Improvements were required to the way that complaints were handled as not all complaints had been recorded or responded to appropriately. Improvements were also required to the assessment procedures to ensure that people could receive person centred care.

People received care that helped them to feel safe. They had risk assessments in place that supported them to receive safe care and they received their medicines when they were required. There were sufficient numbers of staff to provide people with the care they required, and they had been recruited with the appropriate checks in place. Staff understood their responsibility to recognise and report if anyone was at risk of harm.

Staff received training which enabled them to understand the needs of the people they were supporting, and staff performance was assessed to ensure people received good care. People's consent was sought by staff before they were supported with their care and people were encouraged to eat and drink on a regular basis. Staff understood when people needed help from a healthcare professional and ensured they were supported with this.

People had developed positive relationships with staff and they were supported by a staffing team that was respectful of their needs and treated them well. Staff demonstrated a good knowledge and understanding about the people they cared for and people’s privacy and dignity was respected by the staff. People and their relatives told us they were able to express their views and be involved in making decisions about their care and support and people were encouraged and supported to be independent.

People had a care plan which recorded their needs and the support they required with their personal care, and this was updated and reviewed when people’s needs changed. People also had a review at least once a year to see if there needed to be any amendments to people’s care. People were also supported to prevent isolation and loneliness.

A registered manager was in post and they split their time between two services. They submitted notifications to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) when required and had quality assurance systems in place to review the quality of care people received. The company compliance team and the registered manager carried out regular quality audits and the provider played a supportive role to the service. Questionnaires were sent out to people using the service and these were reviewed and actioned when necessary.