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The Robert Atkinson Centre

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

Thorntree Road, Stockton-on-tees, TS17 8AP 07875 603898

Provided and run by:
Thumhara Centre

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 23 May 2023

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 was completed by 1 inspector and an interpreter. We asked an interpreter to make calls to people and staff as their first language was Urdu.

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 provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ 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.

Inspection activity started on 3 April 2023 and ended on 14 April 2023. We visited the office on 4 and 12 April 2023 and an interpreter conducted calls to people and staff on 6 and 11 April 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered. 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. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection

We looked at records relating to the management of the service. We looked at 3 people’s care and support files. We spoke with the registered manager and 2 admin support staff during our office visits. An interpreter spoke with 3 people who used the service and attempted to contact 6 staff and was successful in speaking with 2 staff members.

Overall inspection

Requires improvement

Updated 23 May 2023

About the service

The Robert Atkinson Centre is a domiciliary care agency providing support for people in their own homes. The service was supporting 5 people at the time of the inspection.

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

The provider did not ensure staff were recruited safely. Appropriate checks were not completed prior to staff supporting people. This placed people at risk of harm.

The provider did not have effective systems to monitor the safety and quality of the service.

People were happy with the care and support provided. The registered manager ensured people had a regular team of staff. Staff were introduced to people prior to providing support. People told us they looked forward to staff visiting. People and families were involved in assessments.

The provider had systems in place to investigate safeguarding concerns. Staff had completed safeguarding training. Individual and environmental risks were identified and mitigated against. Systems were in place to ensure people would continue to receive support in the event of an emergency.

The registered manager conducted regular visits to gather feedback. The service liaised with healthcare professionals and their information was included in care plans.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 5 January 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the recruitment and management of staff. 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 requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Due to the shortfalls found during the inspection the provider was requested to produce an action plan detailing what action and by when that they would address the issues identified.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to safe recruitment and monitoring the safety and quality of the service.

Follow up

We have already requested 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.