HLC Care Agency Ltd

Updated 30 June 2021

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

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors. One inspector attended the service and one collated and reviewed information we requested the provider to send us during the inspection.

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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. We needed to be sure the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection. We also needed to arrange to speak with people and for documents to be sent to us.

Inspection activity started on 05 May 2021 and ended on 10 May 2021. We visited the office location on 05 May 2021.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought and received feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people and one relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with two care staff, an office assistant and the registered manager.

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

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at care related Guidance, documents and policies and procedures sent to us in a timely manner.

Updated 30 June 2021

About the service

HLC Care Agency Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to five people at the time of the inspection. Most of the people who used the service were older people.

The Care Quality Commission (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

We received positive feedback from people who used the service and relatives. Comments included, “Care staff are caring, good and they do listen to me” and “My carer is absolutely amazing; she is good and I cannot fault her at all.”

The registered manager failed to have a robust record keeping system in place. Records on MAR chart seen in the office were not always accurate.

The service had a system in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the services provided in some areas. However, this had not been effective in identifying what we found.

Epilepsy care plan for one person lacked adequate detail. There were no detailed seizure triggers and what to do in an emergency apart from calling the GP. Other care plans contained detailed risk assessments.

Risk to people’s health and wellbeing were addressed and mitigated. Environmental risk assessments were also in place, which identified and reduced any environmental risks to people and staff.

Robust recruitment processes were in place. This prevented unsuitable staff from working with vulnerable adults. People told us staff were reliable and consistent. Staff were skilled in carrying out their role. The registered manager ensured staff were appropriately trained.

People’s needs were assessed prior to receiving a service including their protected characteristics under the Equalities Act 2010. People told us they felt at ease with staff and staff were caring.

Staff told us there was an open culture where they were kept informed about any changes to their role.

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 Inadequate (published 19 December 2019) 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.

We carried out a targeted inspection on 24, 25 and 26 August 2020 to check whether the Warning Notices we previously served in relation to regulations 12 and 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met. At that inspection, the service was not rated. We found the provider had improved the service by ensuring that medicines were managed safely. However, the provider required further improvement in risk assessment, care related guidance, effective quality auditing and contemporaneous record keeping.

This service has been in Special Measures since 19 December 2019 During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced inspection of this service on 24, 25 and 26 August 2020. 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 safe care and treatment, good governance and notifications of other incidents.

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, Responsive 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 HLC Care Agency 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.