All inspections: Annix Care - Care Quality Commission

We undertook an announced inspection of Annix Care Domiciliary Care Agency (DCA) on 2 January 2015. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be inspecting them. We did this because Annix Care is a small DCA and the registered manager is sometimes out of the office. Annix Care provides personal care services to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection nine people were receiving a personal care service. People had their care purchased by the NHS Continuing Health Care. NHS Continuing Health Care is the name given to a package of care which is arranged and funded by the NHS for individuals outside of hospital who have ongoing healthcare needs. Annix Care provides palliative care and support to people with terminal illnesses. Palliative care and support is an approach that aims to improve the quality of life of people facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness.

At our last inspection carried out on 24 January 2014 the provider was meeting the requirements of the regulations inspected.

All of the people and their relatives that we spoke with told us that they felt safe when staff from Annix Care visited them in their home. Staff that we spoke with told us that they thought people were safe using the services provided by the DCA. There were arrangements in place to protect people from the risk of harm because risks had been assessed and actions put in to place to reduce the risk of harm to people.

Where people had their prescribed medicines administered to them by DCA staff, their medicines were made available to them and appropriate records were kept.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) states what must be done to ensure the rights of people who may lack mental capacity to make decisions are protected. The MCA Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) requires providers to submit applications to the Court of Protection for authority to deprive someone of their liberty. Staff were aware of and had received training in the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

The staff we spoke with knew the people that they visited and provided care and support to and their needs. Care plans were in place and described the tasks staff needed to undertake in line with the contracted services from Continuing Health Care. All of the people and their relatives spoken with told us that they liked the staff and felt their needs were met.

The provider had a safe system in place to recruit new staff and carried out necessary pre-employment checks. Staff received an induction and ongoing training and supervision so that they had the knowledge and skills to meet people’s needs. All of the staff we spoke with understood their job role and responsibilities.

At the time of this inspection a registered manager was 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. All of the staff spoken with told us that they felt the registered manager was accessible by telephone and approachable.

We found that effective systems were in place to monitor and improve the quality of service people received.

At the time of our inspection we were told that Annix Care provided care and support to 6 people in their own homes. We spoke with the registered manager and eight care staff. We later spoke with six people who used the service or their relatives. We looked to see if improvement had been made following our inspection in May 2013 and found that overall it had.

We found that people had an initial assessment of their needs and that this had been put into a support plan so that care was delivered in line with people's individual care plan. One staff member told us, "People have a support plan in their home and we can look at this information."

We found that processes were in place to protect people from the risk of harm or abuse. One relative told us, 'I am happy with my relatives care and feel that they are safe with the staff visiting them in their home. I have no concerns.'

We saw that the provider had an effective recruitment and selection process in place. We found that pre-employment checks were completed on staff to make sure that they were safe to work with vulnerable people.

We found that effective systems to monitor the quality of the services provided so that actions, when needed, could be made to make improvements were in place.

We found that care records were maintained appropriately so that staff had the information they needed to deliver people's care safely.

On the day of our inspection we were told that the agency was providing support to one person. During our visit, we looked at one care record and spoke with the manager and two care staff. We later spoke with one person that used the service.

People were involved in their care and treated with dignity and respect. One person told us, "The staff are always polite".

Care plans were personalised and risk assessments were in place so that staff had the information they needed to meet people's identified needs.

People were not always safeguarded against harm.

Staff were supported and trained in their roles. One staff member told us, "I enjoyed the induction training and feel supported in my job".

We saw some systems in place to audit and monitor the quality of the service being provided but found that these were not always effective.

We saw that improvements had not been fully achieved following our previous inspection.

Annix Care is a small care agency and on the day of our inspection we were told that they were only providing care to a few people at this point in time.

As part of our inspection we spoke with two relatives of people using the service. We also spoke with the manager, nominated individual and three other members of staff.

We saw respectful language used in care records and staff we spoke with told us how they treated people with respect. One relative told us, "The staff are always polite to my relative".

We saw that care plans were not personalised to individual's needs and not kept up to date. Records were not available to show us whether people received the care to meet their identified needs.

Systems were not always in place to protect people from harm. Staff were not always trained and were not supervised to ensure good care and support was provided.

There were no systems in place for auditing procedures and monitoring the quality of the service provided. One relatives told us that were not clear about how to raise a concern or complain.

Records were not well maintained and not easily accessible.

Archived: Annix Care

All Inspections

2 January 2015

During a routine inspection

24 January 2014

During an inspection looking at part of the service

21 May 2013

During a routine inspection

28 January 2013

During a routine inspection