Stardust Healthcare Ltd

Stardust Healthcare Limited is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own home. On the day of the inspection, 12 people were receiving support.

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 received support that was safe and care staff knew how to keep them safe. Appropriate care staff were recruited to support people safely and where medicines were administered this was done as it was prescribed. There were sufficient care staff to support people and risks to people were identified and reviewed. Care staff were trained to know how to follow infection control processes with access to personal protective equipment. Where accidents or incidents happened, trends were monitored.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and care staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Care staff had access to an induction process which ensured they knew how to support people. Where people needed support to access healthcare, care staff supported people where required. People decided what they had to eat and drink.

People received support that was caring and kind. People’s privacy, dignity and independence was promoted.

People received support that was responsive to their needs. Assessments and care plans identified people’s support needs and how they would be met. Reviews were carried out to ensure where people’s support needs changed care staff could be made aware. The provider had a complaints process in place which people used to share any concerns they had.

The service was not always well led. While the registered manager and care staff knowledge and understanding had improved since the last inspection we found further training was still needed in some areas as to how people were supported.

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 14 August 2018) and there was a breach of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

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

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older people and younger adults. At the time of our inspection, 10 people received personal care. This was the first inspection of this service this service was registered in February 2017.

There was a registered manager working at the service at the time of our inspection. 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.

People told us they felt safe while receiving care and support. Staff understood their responsibility to report abuse and knew who they should report this to. People had risks associated with their care assessed, but we could not be sure how well some risks such as those associated with money and skin care had been managed. Accidents and incidents were not well managed. Regular staff who people knew were employed and there were sufficient staff to care for people.

Where people needed assistance with their medicines these were administered by staff who had undertaken training. Staff followed guidelines to reduce the risk of cross infection and had access to personal protective equipment as required.

Systems in place to ensure staff were suitable to work with people in their own homes and other checks had taken place and to make sure people were safe. The registered manager knew what action to take in the event of unsuitable staff gaining employment.

People had their needs assessed and information about their care and support was available for staff. The service had an electronic care plan system which staff were able to access to obtain current information about people. The electronic system was used by staff to book in and out of their calls which enabled office based staff to monitor the calls to ensure calls where undertaken as scheduled.

People believed the staff caring for them to be trained and able to support them. Staff had received regular training including induction. Staff felt supported by the management. People confirmed staff sought their consent prior to receiving personal care, however the registered manager and staff did not have a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (2005.)

People and their relatives told us staff were kind and caring. People confirmed staff ensured their privacy and dignity maintained while receiving care. Where needed staff had assisted people with healthcare appointments and staff knew what they needed to do in the event of finding a person unwell.

People were confident they could raise concerns about their care and believed they would be listened to. People and staff spoke highly of the management and had confidence in them. The manager had some systems in place that monitored the quality of the service.

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