Prestige Nursing Blackpool

Updated 15 August 2018

We carried out this comprehensive 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.

This comprehensive inspection visit took place on 25 June and 2 July 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit as, we needed to be sure we could speak with the registered manager and office staff.

The inspection team consisted of an adult social care inspector.

Before our inspection on 25 June and 2 July 2018 we reviewed the information we held on the service. This included notifications we had received from the provider, about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people the service supported. We also checked to see if any information concerning the care and welfare of people who used the service had been received.

We contacted the commissioning department at Blackpool council, Lancashire County Council, and Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group and Healthwatch Lancashire. Healthwatch Lancashire is an independent consumer champions for health and social care. This helped us to gain a balanced overview of what people experienced accessing the service.

As part of the inspection we used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection we spoke with a range of people about the service. They included five relatives of people who received care and support. We also spoke with the registered manager and six office staff and care staff. We visited the office location on 25 June 2018 and 02 July 2018 and looked at the care records, risk assessments and medicines information of three people, staff recruitment and staff supervision records of three staff, staff training matrix and staff and service user rotas. We looked at records relating to the management of the service and quality assurance monitoring. We also checked the office base to see it was a safe workplace.

Updated 15 August 2018

This inspection visit took place on 25 June 2018 and 2 July 2018 and was announced. This is the first inspection since the service moved to a new location.

At this inspection we found the service was rated Good.

Prestige Nursing Blackpool is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people who live in their own homes. The service covers a wide range of dependency needs including adults, children, people with a learning disability, people with mental health problems, people living with dementia and older people.

At the time of our inspection Prestige Nursing Blackpool was providing a service to 20 adults and children.

There was a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC 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. Having a registered manager is a condition of registration with CQC.

Although people had limited verbal communication and were unable to converse with us, we were able to speak with the relatives of five people. They told us staff safely supported and cared for their family member. They said they were friendly and caring. One relative said, “Prestige staff provide a high standard of care. I am very happy with them.”

Most areas of recruitment and selection had been carried out safely before new staff could start working for the service. However, on the first day of the inspection a complete work history had not always been asked for. This had been rectified by the second day of the inspection.

There were procedures in place to protect people from abuse and unsafe care. Risk assessments were in place which provided guidance for staff. This minimised risks to people. Staff supported people with and managed medicines safely. People we spoke with told us they were competent in the support they gave with medicines.

There were safe infection control procedures and practices and staff had received infection control training. Staff wore protective clothing such as gloves and aprons when needed. This reduced the risk of infection.

Relatives told us their family member was supported by the same group of staff who they knew and liked. They told us they had confidence in their staff team as they were knowledgeable and were familiar with their needs and preferences.

Staff had received training in how to care for people which assisted them in carrying out their roles.

Staff supported people to have a nutritious dietary and fluid intake. They had been taught to carry out complex nutritional support to assist people with their specialist nutritional needs.

Staff received regular training and were knowledgeable how to support and care for people. They had the skills, knowledge and experience to provide safe and effective support.

Staff understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005). People who received support consented to care where they were able. Where people lacked capacity, appropriate best interests’ decisions were carried out.

Care plans were in place detailing how people wished to be supported. People who received support where possible or their relatives had been involved in making decisions about their care.

People we spoke with knew how to raise a concern or to make a complaint. The complaints procedure was available to them and they told us any concerns were listened to and acted upon.

The registered manager and senior staff monitored the support staff provided to people. They checked staff arrived on time and supported people in the way people wanted. Audits of care records and risk assessments were carried out regularly.

People and their relatives were encouraged to complete surveys about the quality of their care. They told us they were pleased with the support they received.