My Pillar Limited

My Pillar Limited is a domiciliary service which provides personal care to adults with a range of support needs in their own houses and flats. At the time of this inspection the service was supporting four people with personal care.

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

The provider had failed to regularly audit and check certain areas of the service. Care records needed improvement to ensure they contained enough information to guide staff about people’s support needs. The provider completed employment checks to ensure staff were suitable to deliver care and support before they started work. They need to strengthen the process further and ensure a full employment history was completed for all staff.

Improvement was needed to the systems for preventing and controlling infection. During our visit to the office we had to remind staff several times to wear their masks correctly. We also identified that the provider’s COVID-19 policy was not reflective of current guidance.

Staff had received training in infection control and demonstrated an understanding of what personal protective equipment (PPE) should be used when supporting people. Relatives confirmed that staff wore PPE (personal protective equipment) when coming into people’s homes.

Staffing levels were sufficient. There were enough trained staff within the service to ensure people’s planned care needs were met. Relatives told us staff were on time for planned care calls.

People were protected from abuse and relatives told us their loved ones received safe care. People received support from a regular staff team. Staff were trained in administering medicines safely. Competency checks had been completed to ensure staff were following safe practices.

Staff had good knowledge about the people they supported and told us they enjoyed working at the service. People's independence was promoted and respected. Staff supported people with eating, drinking and to access healthcare support. Staff treated people with respect and dignity, and feedback we received from relatives was positive about the care their family member received.

People and their relatives were able to give feedback about their care in a variety of ways. Examples included care reviews and during spot checks monitoring staff performance.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was last inspected on 11 December 2019 and was rated Good.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to good governance.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

My Pillar Limited is registered to provide personal care to people within their own homes. On the day of the inspection ten people were being supported.

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 not always well led. People’s care records and other paperwork were combined which potentially posed a potential risk to care staff being able to understand people’s support needs and risks clearly. The registered manager ensured spot checks and audits were carried out, so people would receive good quality support. People were engaged with to ensure their views were gathered as part of the quality of the service being maintained.

Care staff were trained so they could recognise signs of abuse. People told us they were safe. The registered manager ensured they had appropriate recruitment systems in place to ensure care staff were recruited safely. Care staff received training to support people safely with their medicines. The provider had sufficient care staff to support people and risks to people were identified. Care staff supported people in line with the provider’s infection control procedures and where incidents or accidents 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 were inducted so they could support people appropriately.

Care staff supported people in a caring and kind manner. People’s privacy, dignity and independence were promoted.

People received support that was responsive to their needs. People were communicated with in ways they could understand. Assessments and support plans were used to ensure people’s support was personalised. Reviews took place so changes to people’s support could be identified. The provider had a complaints process in place.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (Report published 16 January 2019).

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

My Pillar is a domiciliary care service which is registered to provide personal care services to people living in their own homes, including adults and older adults living with physical, learning and or mental health conditions such as dementia. At the time of our inspection they were providing personal care and support to 10 people.

The service had a registered manager who was present during 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 were supported by enough members of staff who had knowledge and skills they required to care for people safely and effectively.

We found people were protected from the risk of abuse and avoidable harm because staff received training and understood the different types of abuse and knew what actions were needed to keep people safe.

People were encouraged to be as independent as possible, where possible and were supported to have food that they enjoyed. People told us staff always sought their consent before delivering care. People told us staff were kind, caring and respectful and they took the time to get to know people and their families.

We found people received an assessment of their needs before staff commenced their visits. However, the information contained in the care plans were not detailed and some section were inappropriate. Care plans also lacked information regarding people needs however staff were very knowledgeable about the people they cared for.

The service had a robust recruitment process to help ensure people employed were suitable to work with vulnerable people.

People knew how to complain if they were unhappy and they were confident that their concerns would be responded to efficiently and effectively.

The provider had some management systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service provided to people. However, information gathered was not always used effectively to drive improvements within the service.

Staff reported to feel supported and valued within their work and felt that the provider maintained open, honest and transparent communication systems within the service.

There was a complaints policy in place, however at the time of our inspection, no complaints had been raised. This was confirmed by the people we spoke to with.

A range of policies and procedures were in place to ensure appropriate guidance could be sought when needed.