The Care Quality Commission
  • Services in your home
  • Homecare service

First Choice Home Care (Norwich)

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

First Floor, 2 Barton Way, Norwich, NR1 1DL (01603) 980394

Provided and run by:
First Choice Home Care Ltd

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of Assessment 25 March 2025 to 25 April 2025. We undertook this assessment in response to information of concern we held about the service. First Choice Home Care Norwich is a care at home service providing support to older people, people with a learning disability and people living with mental health conditions. We found 2 breaches of regulation in relation to safe care and governance.

The provider was previously in breach of the legal regulation in relation to safe staffing. Improvements were found at this assessment and the provider was no longer in breach of this regulation.

People did not always receive care in a safe way, and their care needs had not been fully assessed. Risks relating to peoples care needs had not always been identified, and staff were

not supplied with sufficient guidance to keep people safe. We found systems for people to raise concerns were not always effective, and complaints were not always managed in a timely or caring way. Some people felt their concerns were dismissed.

The provider did not always support staff wellbeing, and staff did not feel they were treated with respect. Information was not always provided to people in a way which they could access easily. People were not involved in planning their care, and the outcomes people experienced were not always monitored to promote continuous improvement.

Oversight from leaders was poor and had not identified the concerns we found during this assessment. People and staff did not feel confident in the management team to lead the service safely or with transparency. We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. We found the provider had failed to fully meet the principles of it. There was a lack of management and provider oversight to review shortfalls of care to make improvements. The provider did not always focus on people’s quality of life. The provider and staff did not always recognise how to promote people’s rights, choices and plan to ensure their independence.

7 October 2021

During a routine inspection

About the service

First Choice Home Care (Norwich) is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides a domiciliary care service for adults, including people living with dementia, and for people living with mental health conditions. The mental health service was run separately, with its own deputy manager in post, with the registered manager having overall responsibility for all services provided from the location.

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. At the time of inspection, the service was supporting 118 people in total, 42 of whom were in receipt of personal care.

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

People, and their relatives, told us they were not always supported by a consistent staff team. The registered manager was aware of this and was in the process of implementing various recruitment initiatives. We received mixed feedback regarding staff punctuality, attendance and communication about changes to the rota. Rotas were sent out to people and contact made when there were changes, although sometimes this was short notice. The management team told us this was often due to short notice changes made by the people supported. However, people told us changes were not always their choice. Gaps in the provider’s governance system meant that management oversight of the service was not robust and the impact on people was not clearly assessed.

A quality monitoring system was in place, which included various audits and the monitoring of safeguarding concerns, complaints, accidents and incidents. However, there were some gaps in this system, which meant issues found during this inspection had not been identified.

The majority of risks to people’s health, safety and well-being had been identified and assessed but risk management plans were variable in detail. However, staff told us they knew people well and were aware of risks in relation to their care and support. This helped mitigate some of the gaps identified in documentation.

People were encouraged to be involved in making decisions about their care and to take part in reviews. Care plans were detailed with regards to people’s preferences, although were not always updated promptly. We have made a recommendation about updating care plans.

Staff had a good understanding of the people they supported. They took the time to get to know people’s individual likes and dislikes and spoke about people with kindness and compassion.

The registered manager understood their responsibilities to safeguard people from abuse. They had systems and processes in place to ensure any concerns were recorded and reported. Staff received training in medicines administration and their competency was regularly assessed.

People were protected from the risk of infection because staff had been trained in infection prevention and control (IPC)and followed the current infection prevention and control guidance.

Staff told us they received appropriate training to carry out their role effectively, including training specific to individual people’s needs. Staff and the management team worked well with other agencies to ensure that people received appropriate care.

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 07 April 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration.

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 breach in relation to staffing 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.