We carried out a review of the data available to us about Care4UHomecare Ltd on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Care4UHomecare Ltd, you can give feedback on this service.
Care4UHomecare Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older people, including people receiving support at the end of their life. 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.
At the time of the inspection the provider was supporting five people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
One person’s relative told us they continued to be happy with the current level of care and had a good working relationship with the registered manager. Where new staff had been recruited, they were reassured the registered manager worked with them to monitor their skills and experience.
New staff carried out shadowing and observation sessions before they started working to understand how people liked to be supported. Staff told us this gave them confidence to support people to the best of their ability.
Feedback was positive about the registered manager and people and their relatives were given opportunities to give feedback about their care.
The registered manager had made improvements and followed their action plan since the last inspection to ensure issues had been addressed and people received a good standard of care. Improvements were related to recruitment procedures and the management of people’s assessed risks.
People were supported by staff who spoke positively about the registered manager and felt respected and valued as part of the organisation. Staff were well supported and were given feedback about their performance and advice and guidance to learn and improve.
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 6 August 2021) and there were breaches of regulations. We also made a recommendation in relation to the management of people's medicines. 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
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 30 April 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve on breaches related to safe care and treatment and fit and proper persons employed.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions of Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Care4UHomecare Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.
Care4UHomecare Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. 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.
At the time of the inspection the provider was only supporting one person.
The person’s care was mainly funded through a local authority direct payment agreement. A direct payment is the amount of money that the local authority has to pay to meet the needs of people and is given to them to have control and choice over who they choose to provide their care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Although the issues we found did not directly impact the level of care and support the person received, improvements were needed as robust recruitment processes and important information related to people’s care was not always recorded or in place.
We have made one recommendation that the provider ensures records are updated regarding the support the person receives with their medicines.
The person’s relative told us they had been happy with the current level of care and improvements had been made recently, which had a positive impact on their family member. The relative had chosen this care agency and highlighted the professional relationship they had developed over the years since they had started to use the service.
The relative was positive about the kind and caring attitude of the staff team, including the registered manager. They said their family member was being well supported and the registered manager worked hard to accommodate their needs and respond to any issues or concerns.
Staff completed training and had opportunities to meet the person and observe how their care was delivered before starting work with them. This helped them to get a better understanding of their needs.
The person was supported to have maximum choice and control of their life and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The person was supported by staff who spoke positively about the registered manager and the support they received to help them in their roles. Staff had been well supported during challenging periods of the COVID-19 pandemic and told us the registered manager has always been available for advice and guidance.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was inspected but not rated (published 16 January 2020).
The service was registered with us on 25 May 2017 but had not been providing personal care until the first inspection on 18 December 2019. At the inspection there was one person using the service. We were able to carry out an inspection but we could not rate the quality of the service as we had insufficient evidence on which to do so.
Why we inspected
We carried out this inspection following a routine review of information we held about this service. Our intelligence indicated there may be a higher level of risk at this service due to the length of time it had been registered and not been rated.
Enforcement
We have identified two breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and recruitment practices.
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 work alongside the provider to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service. If we receive any concerning information we may return to inspect.
Care4UHomecare Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there was one person using the service. We were able to carry out an inspection but we could not rate the quality of the service as we had insufficient evidence on which to do so.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The person had been receiving support with personal care since August 2019. The person’s relative told us they were unable to fully comment about the care and support their family member received as the two current care workers had only been working with them for a short period of time.
The relative was happy with how the care and support was being delivered and felt the care workers were developing a positive relationship and understood their family member’s needs.
The person’s care needs were assessed and care workers had a good understanding of how they liked to be supported. Samples of daily records showed their needs were being met.
Both care workers had completed a training induction programme and had been introduced to the person before starting work with them. Care workers felt supported in their role and spoke highly about the registered manager.
The person was supported to have maximum choice and control of their life and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The registered manager had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and due to the size of the service, had regular correspondence with both the relative and care workers. The relative was positive about the management of the service and felt confident the registered manager would deal with any issues immediately.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The service was registered with us on 25 May 2017 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
We had scheduled to inspect this service in May 2018 based on the registration date of the service. However, the provider was dormant and not providing any personal care. We planned an inspection again in December 2018 but again no personal care was being provided. This was the first inspection.
Follow up
We were not able to rate the service at this time and will return to complete a further inspection in line with our re-inspection guidelines. We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.