Unite Care Ltd

Unite Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own home. At the time of our inspection the service provided support to nine people. 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 protected from the risk of harm and abuse. There were effective systems and processes in place to minimise risks. Care workers had been recruited safely and they knew how to identify and report concerns. Risks in relation to providing support to people were assessed and plans to manage such risks were developed together with people who used the service. Medicines were managed safely. The service had processes to analyse trends and patterns of accidents and incidents to minimise the risk of such events happening again. 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 were involved in their care and the service had developed person centred care plans to manage and meet their care needs. People’s communication needs were assessed, and systems were in place to meet them. Concerns and complaints were listened to and actions were taken to learn from complaints and make improvements.

The service had a robust and effective quality assurance monitoring system to make ongoing improvements to the care people received. People told us that there was a very positive caring culture by care workers and the service. One relative told us, “The staff really go above and beyond and created a bond with my relative, they became part of our family.”

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 9 July 2021)

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

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and to assess if the service had made improvements since our last inspection.

Follow up

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

Unite Care Ltd is a small domiciliary care agency in Brent Northwest London. The agency provides personal care to people living in their own houses or flats. At the time of our inspection Unite Care Ltd provided personal care to 10 people. 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

The systems in place to manage people’s medicines were not able to show that people were supported to manage their medicines safely. We could not be assured that people were receiving their medicines as prescribed. Risk management plans were not always carried out appropriately and we could not be fully assured that care workers were provided with the correct information to manage risks in relation to carrying out the regulated activity. Care records at times contained conflicting information and didn’t reflect the assessed needs of people who used the service. There were systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service provided. However, we found that the service had failed to identify deficiencies in respect of medicines management, risk management and personalised care plans. We found breaches of regulations in respect of this.

Feedback from people who used the service and relatives was consistently good. People told us they felt safe when being cared for by care workers and this was confirmed by relatives we spoke with. People and relatives were complimentary about care workers and said they were caring, patient and respectful. They also told us that the service was professional and well run. Systems were in place to help ensure people were protected from the risk of abuse. There were appropriate policies in place. People were protected from abuse by staff who understood how to identify and report any abuse concerns. Staff followed appropriate infection control practice. These practices were updated to reflect COVID-19 and systems in place. There were appropriate numbers of suitably skilled staff available to meet people's needs. Feedback indicated that care workers were generally punctual. A system was in place to record and respond to accidents and incidents. Lessons learnt were used as opportunities to improve the quality of service.

Assessments were carried out to ensure people's needs could be met. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The service had a system in place to obtain feedback from people about the quality of the service they received through regular telephone monitoring and questionnaires. This enabled the service to continuously monitor the effectiveness of the service.

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)

This service was registered with us on 15/03/2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on risk and the time the service was registered with the Care Quality Commission but not being rated.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, personalised care and good governance at this inspection.

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 for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.