Archived: Aregon Care

Updated 13 June 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection team comprised of 1 inspector and 1 Expert by Experience who made telephone calls to people and relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

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

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 not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been in post since July 2022 and had applied to register with us. We are currently assessing this application.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 18 April 2023 and ended on 26 April 2023. We visited the location’s office on 18 April 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with 5 people who have care provided by the service and 7 relatives. We reviewed 6 people’s care plans and risk assessments. We reviewed health documents for people. Compliance documents were also reviewed. This included medicines audits, staff competency assessments, training records and recruitment files.

We spoke with 1 director who was also the nominated individual, 1 care manager and 5 staff. We also gathered feedback from 2 local authorities who commissioned care from the service and 1 social worker.

Updated 13 June 2023

About the service

Aregon Care is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own home. At the time of our inspection there were 64 people using the service. At this inspection the service provided care for older people and people living with dementia.

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

The provider’s governance systems had not identified some of the shortfalls we found during this inspection process. This meant the systems in place to assess and monitor safety and quality at the service were not always effective.

Staff had limited knowledge of how to record an accident or incident meaning there was a risk that incidents would not be consistently reported to prevent recurrence.

Care plans were not always person centred and information provided within them did not fully reflect people’s needs, preferences, and health conditions. People’s care was not always reviewed to update information on people’s care needs.

We found that people and relatives were not always aware of having a care plan in place or being involved in any reviews around care provided to people. This meant that relatives and people felt any concerns around care were not always actioned. Some people and relatives told us they were happy with the care provided and received care matching the person’s needs.

The provider supported staff members to gain skills and development to ensure they were confident to support people with their care needs. We saw examples where the provider identified staff members having limited communication with people and language barriers to effectively communicate with people. However, there were areas where staff didn’t have the skills needed to support people safely and effectively.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not provide care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group. 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

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 12 April 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was the first ratings inspection and took place after the provider changed the registered address.

The overall rating for the service is requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We found that systems and process in place to oversee the service were not effective or robust to identify shortfalls in staff members compliance which included medicine administration competency, and care plans. This was a breach of regulation 17.

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