Archived: First Class Care Limited

Updated 5 March 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

At our last inspection 24 July 2018 we found the provider was in breach of Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities). At this inspection improvements had been made and this breach in regulation had been met.

Inspection team: One inspector who conducted the inspection and an expert by experience who contacted people who used the service and their families by telephone. 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: First Class Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to older people living in their own houses and flats.

The service should have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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 this inspection there was no registered manager at the service.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the providers representative is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be available.

What we did:

We reviewed information, which included statutory notifications. A notification is about important events, which the provider is required to send us by law. We also received feedback from the local authority who commission services from the provider. We used all this information to inform our inspection plan.

A Provider Information Return was not requested on this occasion, but we gave the provider the opportunity to share information with us.

We spoke with three people that were using the service and three relatives. We also spoke with the provider’s representative, acting manager, care assessment coordinator, office administrator and one member of care staff.

We looked at two people’s care records to check that the care they received matched the information in their care plans. We reviewed four staff files to see how staff were recruited and the training records to check the training provided to staff. We looked at the systems the provider had in place to ensure the quality of the service was continuously monitored and reviewed to drive improvement.

Updated 5 March 2019

About the service: First Class Care is a domiciliary care agency who provide care for people in the community. There were 22 persons using the service at the time of the inspection.

What life is like for people using this service:

At the time of the inspection there was no registered manager at the service. There was a recruitment drive for care staff on at the time of the inspection, but we found the recruitment process was not robust or following the provider’s recruitment policy. Personal data was not processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and relevant data protection law. There were clear monitoring systems to support the service and ensure it was run well. Call monitoring was robust and this identified the call time and duration of the call. There was an open and transparent culture throughout the service. The acting manager submitted notifications to CQC in a timely manner. Positive feedback on how the service was managed was received from people, family and other healthcare professionals.

We have made a recommendation about the management of staff files and General Data Protection Regulations.

First Class Care limited provides care for people living in their own homes.

People told us they felt safe and protected from harm with the staff that cared for them. Robust assessments were in place to identify people’s known risks and ensure people and staff, were aware of these to make sure any risks taken were done so safely. There was sufficient staff to care for the number of people using the service at the time of the inspection. Medication was managed in a safe way and people received their medicines as prescribed. There was evidence of investigations when things went wrong and lessons learned from outcomes. Staff were reporting incidents and concerns.

Rating at last inspection: Requires improvement (10 September 2018)

Why we inspected: This was a responsive inspection. We responded to concerns raised with us regarding the financial viability of the company.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.