About the service Premier Care Blackpool Branch provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes within the Blackpool area. In addition to providing a domiciliary care service, the registered provider also manages one supported living home for people with mental health needs.
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 service was not always safe. Medicines were not always managed safely. We found examples where people had been given their medication without full guidance being followed. Documentation around medicines was not always fully completed which meant people could have been exposed to risk. We discussed this with the registered manager and systems were in place to address the concerns. However, these changes required time to embed. We found recruitment of staff was safe. Staff had access to personal protective equipment, and they had received training on infection control. The service had procedures to minimise the potential risk of abuse or unsafe care.
The service was not always well led. At this inspection we identified some records relating to care and the management of the service were either incomplete, inaccurate and/or not kept up to date. We found no impact to people however, this could have compromised the quality and safety of the service provided. We have made a recommendation about embedding effective systems to monitor the service. There was a positive staff culture. We found the management team receptive to feedback and keen to improve the service. The registered manager worked with us in a positive manner and provided all the information we requested.
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's nutritional needs had been considered. People we spoke with said they were given choices on what meals and drinks they wanted.
The complaints folder showed complaints had been fully investigated by the registered manager and a full response provided to the complainant. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of the people they supported and were able to talk about people's preferred routines.
The registered manager and staff were caring. People told us they were happy with their care and staff treated them with kindness, dignity and respect. One person said, "I have never been shown anything but respect from the carers, the ones who come to me are very kind." Staff were aware of how to protect people's privacy and dignity.
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 4 April 2019 and this is the first inspection to award an overall rating. A focussed inspection was completed looking at Safe and Well-led (published 18 July 2020). As the inspection was targeted no rating was awarded, we found two breaches of the regulations relating to risk management, medicines and governance. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection enough improvement had not been sustained and the provider was still in breach of one regulation.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the registration date and to follow up on previous concerns found at the focussed inspection.
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 a continued breach in relation to the management of medicines at this inspection.
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.