Blessed Hearts Home Care Also known as JN Community Care Limited

Blessed Hearts Home Care is a care at home service providing personal care for 22 people at the time of inspection some of whom were living with dementia or had a physical disability. The service supports people living in their own homes.

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

Staff often arrived late to people’s care call, and, on some occasions, people had experienced missed calls. Some people’s care plans and risk assessments required clearer guidance for staff to follow about their health needs. Medicines were not always managed safely. Several staff files contained unexplored gaps in their employment history. There was an audit schedule in place, but we found the provider’s audits had not highlighted issues found during the inspection.

Most people’s care plans and risks assessment set out their needs and the support they needed from staff to stay safe. People were supported by staff who had been safely recruited. Steps had been taken to protect people from the risk of infection. Accidents and incidents were recorded, monitored and followed up.

Staff had the necessary skills and training to support people safely. People were supported to eat and drink where they needed support in this area. 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.

Staff provided people’s care with kindness and respect. People and their relatives were involved in care planning and reviews.

Staff felt supported by management. The registered manager gathered feedback from people who used the service. The provider worked with external agencies and professionals to ensure people received the support they required.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The first rating for this service was required improvement (published 15 November 2019) and there was one breach of regulation. The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 30 June 2021) and there were multiple 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 improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

This service has been in Special Measures since 30 June 2021. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

This was a focused inspection to follow up on the previous breaches.

We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on Inspection carried out on 31 March 2021 and 15 October 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve the standards of quality and safety, improve safe care and treatment, good governance and fit and proper persons.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions safe, caring, effective and well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Blessed Hearts Home Care is a care at home service providing personal care to 23 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service supports people living in their own homes.

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

People were not consistently supported by safely recruited staff as the provider had failed to implement safe recruitment processes. Staff did not always have the necessary skills and experience to meet people's individual needs.

People’s experience of infection control and moving and handling put them at risk of harm. People found carers were often late or care calls were missed. Systems in place did not always identify these issues to ensure appropriate action was taken to learn lessons and minimise the risk of further incidents.

We found people did not always feel well treated or respected by staff when entering their homes. Communication with people was inconsistent and people and relatives were not consulted or involved in reviewing their care.

The registered provider had not ensured there were robust systems in place to keep people safe and meet their needs in a person-centred way. Following our last inspection, the provider had not implemented the improvements in systems and processes required. There continued to be a lack of oversight regarding recruitment practices, accidents and incidents and feedback from people.

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

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 16 November 2019) and there were multiple breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection improvement had not been made or sustained and the provider was still in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing levels, care calls being missed, the safety of the equipment used for training and the governance of the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, caring and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to inadequate. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

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

Enforcement

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 discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, the safe recruitment of staff and the governance of the service at this inspection.

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

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 to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement 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.

Surecare Wolverhampton is a care at home service providing personal care to 9 people aged at the time of the inspection. The service supports people living in their own homes or flats.

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

People were not consistently supported by safely recruited staff as the provider had failed to complete all of the necessary checks. People were not consistently supported by staff who had sufficient training to meet their needs and related risks.

Records relating to medicines were not always completed accurately. Quality checks on medicines had not always identified where areas of improvement were required. The provider had failed to ensure checks on the quality of the service had been consistently completed. The provider had failed to ensure people were encouraged to feedback about their care and support.

People were supported by staff in a way they preferred. People had sufficient time with staff to meet their needs and did not have to rush. People were supported by staff who understood how to protect them from harm. People had risk assessments in place which gave staff guidance on how to reduce people's levels of risk.

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.

People were supported to eat and drink in line with their preferences. People were supported to be as independent as they were able by staff. Staff understood people's protected characteristics and people were supported by staff who shared their first language.

People felt able to raise concerns with the manager and any concerns had been acted on and investigated in full.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 16/07/2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to the safe recruitment of staff, staff training and the governance of the service at this inspection.

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

Follow up

We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.