Archived: Surbiton

Updated 24 May 2023

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service short notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Inspection activity started on 23 March 2023 and concluded on 11 April 2023. We visited the location’s office on 31 March 2023.

We spoke with the registered manager who is also the provider’s nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We spoke with 2 care workers and 1 member of office staff. We contacted 2 people and their relatives to ask about their experiences of the care they received however were not able to speak with them.

We reviewed documents relating to both people who used the service including daily care records, care plans, risk assessments and medicines administration records. We reviewed staff recruitment and training information. We reviewed policies and procedures and improvement plans. We requested additional information to be sent to us, including records of audits and actions taken to improve the service, however this was not provided to us.

Updated 24 May 2023

About the service

Surbiton is a domiciliary care agency. The service provides personal care to older people. At the time of our inspection there were 2 people using the service. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. In this service, the Care Quality Commission can only inspect the service received by people who get support with personal care. This includes help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people receive such support, we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People continued to receive unsafe care and support from a service that was not well-led. Medicines were not managed properly and assessed risks weren’t always mitigated against by staff.

Staff provided support without having the appropriate training to keep people safe. The provider continued to fail to deploy enough staff to ensure people received safe, high-quality support as agreed in their care packages.

The provider continued to fail to ensure a service that was well-led, with appropriate governance and oversight of the care people received. Issues noted in previous inspections weren’t acted upon. The registered manager did not ensure that the service monitored and improved the quality and safety of the service people received. The provider's conditions of registration with CQC were not met.

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

Last rating and update

The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 18 November 2022) and there were breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do, and by when, to improve. At this inspection the provider remained in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 18 October 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found in relation to safe care and support, staffing, safeguarding people from abuse, and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check if the provider had made improvements and if they were now meeting the legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led.

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 not changed following this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Surbiton on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have found breaches in relation to safe care and support, staffing, safeguarding people from abuse, fit and proper persons employed and good governance at this inspection.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

The overall rating for this service is inadequate and the service remains in special measures. This means we will keep the service under review and will re-inspect within six months of the date we published this report to check for significant improvements. If the registered provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This usually means we will start processes that will prevent the provider from continuing to operate the service.

For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be 12 months. If the service has shown improvements when we inspect it, and it is no longer rated inadequate for any of the five key questions, it will no longer be in special measures.