We carried out a review of the data available to us about Care Embassy Domiciliary Care on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Care Embassy Domiciliary Care, you can give feedback on this service.
Care Embassy is a domiciliary care service providing personal care and support to people living in their own homes in the community. At the time of the inspection seven people were receiving support from this service.
The provider (who is also registered manager) had submitted a notification to advise of a recent change of office address. We visited the provider’s new address to conduct this inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were safe and protected from avoidable harm. Staff knew how to identify and report any concerns relating to the risk of abuse. Risks to people’s health, safety and well-being were assessed and support developed to remove or reduce the risks. People were supported by staff who had been safely recruited.
People’s medicines were managed safely. Staff received training and had their competency assessed to help ensure they were sufficiently skilled and knowledgeable to safely administer medicines. Staff had received training in infection control practices and personal protective equipment (PPE) was provided for them. The registered manager took appropriate action following any incidents and learning was shared with the staff team.
The registered manager had a system of quality assurance checks in place to monitor the safety and effectiveness of the service provided. The registered manager was committed to providing a high standard of care to the people they supported and understood their responsibilities to them. People, their relatives and staff members spoke highly of the registered manager and told us that they were always available and supportive.
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 26 September 2019), the provider was in breach of regulation 17 (Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. 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.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 09 August 2019. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve the quality assurance systems in place to monitor the overall quality and safety of the service.
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 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 requires improvement to good. 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 Care Embassy Domiciliary 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.
Care Embassy is a domiciliary care service providing personal care and support to people living in their own homes in the community. At the time of the inspection 18 people were receiving support.
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 generally happy with the care they received, the staff who provided their care and they felt safe. Staff were aware of the procedure for reporting any concerns to help keep people safe. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Although there was a robust recruitment process in place, we found that the process was not always followed, and pre-employment checks were inconsistent. We have made a recommendation in relation to pre-employment checks being completed, details are in the safe section of the main body of the report.
People were supported, when required, to receive their medicines regularly and staff completed the medicine administration records. Staff were aware of how to reduce the risk and spread of infection. The registered manager told us they had not had any accidents or incidents so could not share any examples of learning with us.
Staff obtained people's consent before supporting them. People were supported where required to eat and drink sufficient amounts to remain healthy and were supported to access healthcare professionals when required. 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 liked the staff that cared for them. People told us that staff were caring and kind. They told us the staff always asked them what they would like help with and supported them in the way they wished to be supported. People were involved in their care planning and staff made sure they respected people's dignity and privacy. Staff worked well as a team and did their best to ensure people were able to continue to live in their own homes.
People told us the staff managed past complaints well? and concerns were quickly addressed which meant they did not escalate to a formal complaint. Peoples view were sought through a variety of methods.
The registered manager did not have any quality assurance systems or processes in place at the time of the inspection. They told us the service was very small and they did some of the care delivery themselves so had an overview of the service. However, there were no records to verify any quality checks or audits. We have made a recommendation in relation to establishing a robust quality assurance system, details are in the well led section of the main body of the report. During the inspection we found records to be inconsistent and incomplete. The registered manager told us they were going to introduce quality assurance and audits within the next few months.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This is the first inspection since the service was registered on 7 August 2018.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration.
Recommendations
We have made a recommendation in relation to the provider following their recruitment policy and consistently completing pre-employment checks.
Enforcement
We have identified a breach of regulation due to the provider not having quality assurance systems in place to monitor the overall safety and quality of the service.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
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.