Competent Healthcare Ltd

Updated 6 December 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 was completed by two inspectors and one Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type.

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

Registered Manager

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 a short notice period of the inspection so that people could consent to take part in the inspection by giving us feedback by phone.

Inspection activity started on 7 October 2022 and ended on 20 October 2022. We visited the location’s office on 11 and 17 October 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the 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 sought feedback from the local authority. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke to seven people and relatives via telephone to gain feedback about their care. We spoke to six staff including the registered manager, office staff and care staff. We also spoke with three health and social care professionals.

We reviewed records relating to people’s care and the running of the service. These included care records for seven people, two staff recruitment files, audits, policies, incident reports, quality assurance records and medicines administration records.

Updated 6 December 2022

About the service

Competent Healthcare Ltd is a home care service providing personal care to people in their own home. The service provides support to older adults who may be living with dementia, a physical disability, sensory impairment or mental health diagnosis. At the time of our inspection there were 15 people using the service. The service supported people living in the Southampton area.

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

The provider had made significant improvements around their governance processes and systems to monitor the quality of care. There was a clear management structure in place to help ensure key aspects of the service were run safely and effectively. The provider had demonstrated a commitment to work with stakeholders to make changes which had led to sustained improvements in the quality of care. There was a positive atmosphere at the service, with people, relatives and staff telling us leaders were approachable and professional.

The provider had made improvements around staffing since our last inspection. There were now systems in place to ensure there were sufficient numbers of staff in place, who had appropriate training and support in their role. Risks related to the delivery of care were assessed and reduced. There were appropriate policies and procedures in place to support people to safely manage their medicines. The provider had systems in place to safeguard people from suffering abuse or coming to avoidable harm.

There were appropriate processes in place to gain people’s consent to care. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. The provider had effective systems to assess people’s needs and provided support around people’s healthcare.

People told us that staff were caring and took time to get to know them as individuals. Staff were patient and did not rush people when providing care. People told us they were involved in making decisions about their care and that they were treated with dignity and respect.

The provider was completing work to ensure people’s care plans were person centred and reflective of the support people required. Care was organised around the needs of people and the provider was flexible and responsive when changes were required. There were systems in place to monitor care pro-actively with the use of electronic care planning systems. The provider listened to people’s feedback and acted appropriately to investigate complaints or concerns.

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 requires improvement (published 30 November 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. 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 enough improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

At the last inspection we found the provider was in breach of regulation. This inspection was carried out to review actions the provider told us they would take to comply with the regulation and improve the service. As a result, we undertook a comprehensive inspection to review the overall quality and safety of the service.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.