Archived: Purple Homecare Limited

Updated 5 July 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.’

Inspection team: The inspection team consisted of an inspector and inspection manager.

Service and service type: Purple homecare is a domiciliary care agency providing support to people living in their own homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection: We attempted to contact the provider on 12 April 2019 to give notice of the intended inspection. However, as the contact details had changed we were unable to contact them. We then established contact with them and gave notice on 17 April 2019 that we would be inspecting the service. The provider informed us they were unable to access their office due to rent arrears. Neither the provider or the registered manager were available to support us with the inspection on the 25 or 26 April 2019. The service was inspected on 1 May 2019.

Inspection site visit activity started on 26 April 2019 and ended on 1 May 2019. We visited the office location on 01 May 2019 to see the manager, there were no office staff in post.

What we did: We reviewed care records and risk assessments and other records relating to the service, including daily log records and complaints. However, there were no records relating to staff training and recruitment. We spoke with five relatives of people who used the service and two staff members one who was employed by Purple homecare and a second staff member employed by the registered managers other service.

Updated 5 July 2019

About the service: Purple Homecare Limited is a service providing personal care and support to people in their own home. At the time of the inspection the service was providing support to 8 people. Although the provider was registered to provide personal care from Hamilton House, 111 Marlowe's, Suite 608, Hemel Hempstead HP1 1BB we found that they had moved to another office but had not taken the required steps to amend their registration. This was a breach of the conditions of their registration. We inspected the office they told us they were providing the service from Victoria Square, 2 Fountain Court St Albans, AL1 3TF.

People’s experience of using this service: People told us the care they received was reasonable and was provided by a consistent workforce. We found that people were put at risk of receiving care that was unsafe and did not meet their needs.

Rating at last inspection: This was our first inspection since the service was registered on19 March 2018.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection.

Enforcement: We are taking enforcement action and will report on this when it is completed.

Follow up: The overall rating for this registered provider is 'Inadequate'. This means that it has been placed into 'Special Measures' by CQC. The purpose of special measures is to:

• Ensure that providers found to be providing inadequate care significantly improve.

• Provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and work with, or signpost to, other organisations in the system to ensure improvements are made.

• Provide a clear timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of care they provide or we will seek to take further action, for example cancel their registration.

If not enough improvement is made within this timeframe so that there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.

This service will continue to be kept under review and, if needed, could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement so there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action to prevent the provider from operating this service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration.

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. We will have contact with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes.

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