Sky Home Living Limited

Kays Carers is a domiciliary care agency providing support for 23 people at the time of the inspection.

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

We found there had been a period of instability in the governance of the service and this had impacted on recording of audits and quality checks. However, this didn’t appear to have negatively impacted the quality or safety of care provided.

Most of the time 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 in the service supported this practice. However, the provider didn’t always recognise when mental capacity assessments needed to be carried out.

People told us they felt safe and that Kays Carers was reliable and staff were caring. A relative told us, “I can go shopping when they are coming, I know that [person’s name] is safe in their hands.” We found that staff were aware of their responsibilities to safeguard people from abuse, risks were identified and well managed. Staff were safely recruited and received appropriate training.

People were supported to eat and drink where appropriate and to access support from other agencies, for example, their GP, where required.

People told us the staff were caring and respectful. One person told us, “They always ask me what I want.” Another person told us “I am very pleased with my help, they are well mannered and look after me.”

Although people didn’t always have the same staff consistently visiting them, the majority of people we spoke to were not concerned. A relative told us, “We do have a variety of carers but we know them all. They are all good, very kind.” However, one person we spoke to told us, “A lot of brilliant carers have left and I need to have consistency which Kays Carers can’t give me at the moment.” We found people were supported to express their views and make decisions about their care, and were treated with dignity and respect.

People felt the service enhanced their quality of life. A relative told us, “They have a cup of tea with [person’s name] and take [them] for a walk around the garden and then they watch a bit of TV, [person’s name] looks forward to them coming.” We found the service provided personalised care that met people’s needs.

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 1 November 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

Kays Carers has not been inspected since it was registered with us. Therefore, this inspection looked at all 5 key questions.

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 good governance and the need for consent 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.