Archived: St Michael's Home Care Limited

Updated 17 March 2020

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

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

The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The manager had submitted an application to CQC to register as manager of this service. This application was in process at the time of inspection.

Notice of inspection

We gave 48 hours’ notice of the inspection because we needed to ensure the provider had time to contact people to inform them we may be calling them via telephone to gain their feedback about the care they received.

Inspection activity started on 11 February and ended on 13 February 2020. We visited the office location on 12 February 2020. We made telephone calls and received feedback via email from people and relatives between 11 and 13 February 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included action plans we requested from the provider detailing how improvements were being made. We also reviewed statutory notifications received from the provider about significant events that occurred in the service.

The provider did not complete the required Provider Information Return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about the service, what it does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account in making our judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We received feedback about the service from 10 people or relatives via telephone and email. We spoke with the nominated individual, the manager, the human resources manager and three staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, action plans, policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 17 March 2020

About the service

St. Michael's Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 46 older people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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

Since our last inspection, the provider had made improvements to their systems around the management of people’s medicines and the auditing of people’s care and medicines records.

The manager had a good understanding of their role and had put systems and processes in place to improve quality and safety. People told us the management staff were approachable and listened to their feedback.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the care. The provider had used technology to enhance the safe delivery of care.

The provider did not complete the Provider Information Return in the timescale requested by The Care Quality Commission. As this requirement was not met, the rating for the key question well led is requires improvement.

People told us they were happy with their care and that recent changes had given them more consistency in care call times and staffing. People’s care was in line with their preferences and needs.

Staff received appropriate training, induction and ongoing support in their role. They had a good understanding of people’s needs and treated them with respect.

There were systems in place to protect people from the risks of suffering abuse or harm. The provider’s assessment processes identified key risks to people and staff and measures to reduce the risk of harm.

There were appropriate systems in place to gain people’s consent to 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 and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 15 March 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when they would improve.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.