Archived: ECC Care

Updated 29 July 2022

The inspection

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 team consisted of 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 not a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 7 June 2022 and ended on 11 June 2022. We visited the location’s office on 7 June 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We reviewed the last provider information return (PIR). 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person and nine relatives. We spoke with seven members of staff including the provider and a care co-ordinator.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s support records. We reviewed three staff records in relation to recruitment, training and supervision.

After the inspection

We continued to review information supplied by the provider including their action plan, training records and support records.

Updated 29 July 2022

About the service

ECC Care provides personal care and support to people who require assistance in their own home. At the time of our inspection approximately 23 people were being supported by the service. 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.

The service is registered to be at the address 379 Southchurch Road, Southend on sea, Essex SS1 2PQ. However, when we announced the inspection we were informed the offices had moved to Suite 1 Chalkwell Lawns, Westcliff on sea, Essex SS0 9HR. This location is not part of the provider's condition of registration. We are therefore considering our next enforcement action for this different location. Our inspection occurred at Suite 1 Chalkwell Lawns address, to ensure people were being supported safely.

Care and treatment was not recorded in detail or in a person centred way to provide safe support to people. Staff training had not been reviewed or kept up to date for all staff. There was limited information to support the administration of medication and staff had not had their competency checked. The provider was not able to demonstrate how they learned lessons and shared this information when things go wrong.

The provider had a lack of oversight at the service and there were poor governance systems which meant issues had not been addressed.

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

Generally people told us they were happy with the staff that supported them with their care. People told us they had consistent staff members supporting them.

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 good (published 20 November 2018.)

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management oversight at the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

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 good to inadequate based on the findings of this inspection.

The provider has taken action by appointing a management consultancy firm to address the issues identified.

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

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, staffing, recruitment and good governance at this inspection.

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

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

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Special Measures:

The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe. And there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.

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