We carried out a review of the data available to us about Cherish Home Care Ltd - Sandwell 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 Cherish Home Care Ltd - Sandwell, you can give feedback on this service.
Cherish Home Care - Sandwell is a care agency providing personal care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 103 people.
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
Systems were in place to protect people from the risk of abuse and harm.
People's support needs were risk assessed and care plans provided staff with the information they needed to manage the identified risk.
The provider carried out recruitment checks to ensure staff were suitable for the role.
Staff had the necessary skills to carry out their role. Staff had regular training opportunities and training
specific to people's individual needs was provided.
Some medication administration records (MARS) had missing signatures and no entries for staff to record people’s allergies or if someone was away due to a hospital admission. Where people required as and when medicines (PRN) staff knew when to administer them and how to record them. Staff had received medication training and checks of their competency to administer medicines safely had been completed.
Infection control policies and procedures were in place to keep people safe.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the
least restrictive way and in their best interests: the policies and systems in the service supported this
practice.
People's individual communication needs were considered to support them to be involved in their care.
The management and care team ensured they supported people in a person-centred way to reflect people's
equality and diverse needs.
The quality of care provided was continually assessed, reviewed and improved. People using the service,
relatives and staff were given the opportunity to provide feedback. Audits took place to ensure the quality of
the service was maintained.
The service worked well with health and other professionals to ensure people's needs were met.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
At the last inspection visit the registered provider was rated good. The report was published 28 March 2019.
Why we inspected
We received concerns relating to the administration of medicines. A decision was made to inspect the service to look at these concerns.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern.
Follow up
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.
This service is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our visit 77 people were being supported with personal care.
People’s experience of using this service:
We spoke with people who required assistance with their medicines. When asked, everyone said they were happy with the processes for managing their medicines. Although people were happy with arrangements we saw good practice guidance was not always followed. We have made a recommendation about thisPeople and relatives who used Cherish Home Care Ltd -Sandwell told us they were more than happy with the service provided. They told us staff were committed, kind, caring and reliable.
We were told by people and relatives that Cherish Home Care Ltd – Sandwell was well-led. People and relatives praised the management team for the way in which the service was managed. Everyone we spoke with said they would recommend the service to other people and said they were grateful to be supported by such an efficient and caring organisation.
People told us they felt safe in the care of Cherish Home Care Ltd – Sandwell. They said they were supported by experienced and qualified staff who knew them well. We found risk was appropriately managed and addressed to keep minimise the risk of harm.
People said they were consulted with about all aspects of their care and support. They said they could raise any concerns with the management team and were confident they would be dealt with professionally and in a timely manner.
Staff were aware of their responsibilities in reporting and responding to abuse and said they would not hesitate in reporting any unsafe or abusive practice. Staff told us the registered manager understood the importance of creating a culture where people were free from abuse and harassment.
People said they received effective health care with positive outcomes. They said the staff at the service liaised with health professionals to ensure their health needs were met. We saw evidence of multi-agency working to meet people’s health care needs.
Rating at last inspection:
At the last inspection visit the registered provider was rated good. The report was published 22 April 2016.
Why we inspected:
This was a planned and scheduled inspection.
Follow up:
The next scheduled inspection will be in keeping with the overall rating. We will continue to monitor information we receive from and about the service. We may inspect sooner if we receive concerning information about the service.
More information is in the full report.
Cherish Home Care Limited – Sandwell is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. The service currently provides care to 70 people.
There was a registered manager in post. 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.
Systems to ensure that people were given medication in a safe way were not always effective. Where people required medication to be hidden in food, the authority to do this had not been sought.
Staff were aware of the types of abuse people may be at risk of and the actions to take if they suspected someone was at risk of harm.
People received their care on time and had support given by the same members of staff to ensure consistency.
Appropriate recruitment processes were in place to reduce the risk of unsuitable staff being employed by the service.
Staff received training and support from management to equip them with the knowledge required to meet people’s needs.
People told us that staff sought their consent before providing their care. Staff had an awareness of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and knew how to support people to make their own decisions.
Staff took appropriate action to support people when they became unwell and understood the actions they should take to enable people to access healthcare support if required.
People told us that staff were kind and treated them with dignity. People were supported to have a say in how their care was delivered.
People and their relatives told us they were involved in the planning and review of their care and that when they required changes to be made, this was actioned by staff.
People and their relatives had been informed about how to make complaints. Where complaints were made, these were investigated and any actions that arose were shared to ensure improvements were made.
People, relatives and staff all spoke positively about the management of the service. Staff felt supported and confident in raising concerns and felt that the registered manager would act on these.
The registered manager sought feedback from people to ensure that quality of care was maintained. Where people had made suggestions to the registered manager, these had been acted upon.
We saw that people's needs were assessed before they started using the service and from this a care plan was developed. This showed staff how to support the person to meet their needs. One person said, 'I have no complaints about the care I have they do a really great job and help me.' Another person told us, 'I think staff are very professional kind and very considerate.
Appropriate pre-employment checks were completed when staff were recruited to ensure they were suitable to work with the people who used the service. All staff spoken with confirmed that they had the training they needed to care for people safely.
There are arrangements in place to assess and monitor the safety and quality of care. The views of people and families are used to improve the quality of service delivered. One relative told us, 'If I have suggested something the agency was very quick to respond and try what I had suggested'.
Records were kept securely to respect people's confidentiality.