Premier Care Limited - Wirral Branch

Updated 2 October 2018

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.

This inspection took place on 22 and 24 August 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary care service. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

Inspection site visit activity started on 22 August 2018 and ended on 24 August 2018. It included visiting people with their permission at home and speaking with people who used the service and staff via the telephone. We also visited the office location on both dates to see the manager and office staff and we reviewed care records; 12 staff recruitment files; staff training; complaint and safeguarding information; rotas; policies and procedures and audit documentation.

The inspection team was made up of two adult social care inspectors, an assistant inspector and two experts-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.

Prior to our inspection, we requested the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). 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.

We reviewed all the information which the Care Quality Commission already held on Premier Care Limited - Wirral Branch, such as intelligence, statutory notifications and/or any information received from third parties. We also contacted the local authority to obtain their view of the quality of care delivered by the service. We took any information provided to us into account.

During the inspection, we spoke with the registered manager, the director, the office manager, a senior co-ordinator, four co-ordinators and the trainer at the agency’s office. Furthermore, we undertook home visits by invitation and met three people receiving support from the service and a relative. We also contacted a further 21 people and 5 relatives via the telephone to seek their feedback on the service.

Updated 2 October 2018

This inspection took place on 22 and 24 August 2018 and was announced as this is a domiciliary care company.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community and specialist housing. It provides a service to older adults. Premier Care Limited - Wirral Branch provides a domiciliary service on the Wirral and was is into three geographic areas. At the time of our visit, the service was providing support for 570 people and provided staff for three extra care schemes. There were 279 staff employed and 22 office staff, including the registered manager. At the time of inspection, a director of Premier Care Limited was also in attendance at the service.

Not everyone using Premier Care Limited - Wirral Branch receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

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 service had a registered manager in post.

During our previous inspection in June 2017 there were breaches of Regulation 12 Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The overall rating of the service was ‘requires improvement’. This was because risk assessments did not give specific guidance for staff and the information in the risk assessments was sometimes contradictory and some medication administration records contained misleading information.

At this inspection we found that the service was ‘good’ and was no longer in breach of regulations. This was because improvements had been made to risk assessments, care plans and medication records.

However, we found that records management had improved but further improvements where still needed regarding processes followed for covert medication and daily logs in people’s homes. We were able to see how the service was continually improving regarding the visit times. However, the feedback we received from people was mixed as visits were not always on time. We were also told how people were not always informed of changes to either times or carers.

People's medicines were handled safely by trained staff and were given to them in accordance with their prescriptions. People's GPs and other healthcare professionals were contacted for advice about people's health needs whenever necessary.

The provider had systems in place to ensure that people were protected from the risk of harm or abuse. We saw there were policies and procedures in place to guide staff in relation to safeguarding adults and whistleblowing. Staff received regular training and supervision to enable them to work safely and effectively. There was a complaints policy in place which people felt comfortable using if they had concerns.

Policies and procedures were in place and updated, such as safeguarding, complaints, medication and other health and safety topics. Management and quality assurance systems had been devised and were in place to drive continuous improvement and the service.

Staff understood the need to gain consent and followed legislation designed to protect people's rights and freedoms.

We saw that infection control standards were monitored and managed appropriately. We saw that the provider had an infection control policy in place to minimise the spread of infection, all staff had attended infection control training and were provided with appropriate personal protective equipment such as gloves and aprons.