Care and Protect UK

Updated 21 February 2024

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

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

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

We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection. This was to make arrangements to carry out an inspection using remote technology and we needed to be sure the registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

We spoke with 2 people who used the service and 2 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 4 members of staff including the registered manager, a care co-ordinator and care staff. We reviewed a range of records including 2 people's care records and 2 people's medicines records. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, policies and procedures. Inspection activity started on 16 January 2024 and ended on 19 January 2024. We contacted people and relatives on 16 January 2024.

Updated 21 February 2024

About the service

Care and Protect UK is a domiciliary care service providing personal care and support to 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. At the time of our inspection there were 4 people using the service.

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

Safe recruitment practices had not been followed in relation to a volunteer. There had been no contact with people using the service and no impact on care. We have made a recommendation about this.

There were enough competent and skilled staff to meet people’s needs. Risks were assessed and mitigated, and staff knew people well. Safeguarding procedures were in place and people said they felt safe and confident with the staff. Medicines were managed safely, and staff followed appropriate procedures to prevent and control infections.

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 quality of the service was audited regularly and the registered manager maintained oversight, working alongside the staff to make sure the care provided was of a high standard. A positive culture had been established which promoted openness, integrity and team work.

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 good (published 19 September 2019).

At our last inspection we recommended the provider reviewed staffing levels to make sure staff have suitable time to carry out their roles effectively. We also recommended the provider reviewed their auditing practises to ensure they were carried out by an independent person. At this inspection improvements had been made.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We completed a focused inspection 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.

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation in relation to recruitment procedures and provider oversight.

Follow up

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

This was an 'inspection using remote technology'. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.