Archived: Mersey Valley Care

Updated 19 October 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

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

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 gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection visit because it is a small service and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in. Inspection site visit activity started on 2 September 2019 and ended on 11 September 2019.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as accidents or abuse. We reviewed the information the provider had sent us in their provider information return (PIR). The PIR gives some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection. We contacted local authority commissioning team to check if they had any intelligence on this service. No information was provided.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people and three people’s relatives who used the service, this also included visiting two people with their prior permission. We spoke with six members of staff including the director, registered manager, care coordinator and three care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 19 October 2019

About the service

Mersey Valley Care is a domiciliary care service based in Sale, that provides support and personal care to people in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. At the time of our inspection 7 people were receiving support with personal care.

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

Governance and performance management systems were not always effective. The quality of information in people's care plans varied and some records we looked at did not include information about individual risks.

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. However, the systems at the service did not support this practice. Decision specific mental capacity assessments had not been not carried out to establish if people had the ability to make informed decisions. Best interest decisions had not been appropriately completed and recorded.

Assessments to identify any risks people using the service and to the staff supporting them had not been completed. Where risk assessments had been completed there was not a robust system to keep them under review. We have made a recommendation about this.

The provider and the registered manager had not created strong systems to promote people's safety in terms of the recruitment of suitable staff.

The provider had failed to ensure that staff received the appropriate support and training necessary to enable them to carry out the duties they are required to perform. We found instances of high numbers of e-learning courses that had been completed by staff in one day. This raised concerns regarding the ability of staff to process, retain and reflect upon training completed.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe, and staff were aware of their role in safeguarding people from abuse. There was a sufficient number of staff to meet people's needs. Staff felt there was an effective communication system in place to provide consistent care, and referrals to healthcare professionals were made where required.

Enforcement

At this inspection we rated the service as requires improvement. We identified six breaches of regulations, in relation to safe care and treatment, fit and proper persons employed, need for consent, person-centred care and good governance. Please refer to the end of the report for action we have told the provider to take.

Rating at last inspection.

The service was first registered with the CQC in September 2018. This was our first inspection of this service.

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.

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