We carried out a review of the data available to us about Office NE on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Office NE, you can give feedback on this service.
Office NE is a domiciliary care agency. The service currently provides personal care to younger and older people living in their own homes. The service is also registered to provide personal care to children, people with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, mental health needs, physical disabilities and sensory impairments.
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 our inspection 8 adults were receiving personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
At the time of the inspection, the service did not care or provide support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.
Right Support
People were supported by a regular team of staff who knew them well. This promoted continuity of care. People were happy with the care and support they received. Staff enabled people to have access to specialist health and social care services. 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.
Right Care
People received consistent care from staff who knew them well. People and those important to them were involved in planning their care. People's needs and preferences were assessed prior to receiving the service. There were enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Risk assessments identified and reduced any risks to people and staff.
Right Culture
People received care that was tailored to their needs. The registered manager and care team listened and responded to people's views. Quality assurance and monitoring systems were used to identify shortfalls and improve the service for the people who used it. People were supported to maintain good health, were supported with their medicines and accessed healthcare services when needed. Staff prepared food and drink to meet people's dietary needs and preferences.
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 19 January 2022) and there were breaches of regulation.
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.
Recommendations
We have made a recommendation regarding how the provider records direct observations of staff competence.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.
Office NE is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing support to seven 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 services provide personal care we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Since the last inspection the registered manager had retrospectively addressed some of our concerns regarding the recruitment of staff. Further improvements were required to ensure the registered manager had the full employment history of staff they employed. The registered manager had not provided CQC with a report in the specified time frame to explain how they intended to improve their service. We had requested this action plan following the previous inspection.
People told us they felt safe with the carers looking after them. Staff understood their role in safeguarding people. They administered people’s medicines in a safe manner and had a plentiful supply of PPE. One person said they were, “Properly looked after.” The registered manager had learned lessons about how to improve their service, although further improvements in some areas were required.
The registered manager had made improvements to their governance arrangements and designed systems to have better oversight of the service. Records showed staff had completed training relevant to their role. Policies had been reviewed and made more appropriate for the current service.
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 12 July 2021) when there were multiple breaches of regulation. We served a warning notice on the provider and requested an action plan. The provider failed to complete an action plan after this last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection not enough improvement had been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We carried out an inspection of the service in April 2021 and breaches of legal requirements were found. As a result of our findings we served a warning notice on the provider and requested an action plan. We undertook this inspection to check whether the warning notice we served in relation to Regulation 17 (Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met and to check if improvements in the key question of safe had been made.
This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led. The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
Although we found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm, we have found evidence that the provider needed to make further improvements. Please see the safe and well-led key question sections of this full report.
You can read the report from our last inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Office NE on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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 recruitment and good governance. We are able to publish requirement actions of enforcement at the time of the report being published.
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.
Office NE is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection six people were using the service. The provider and the registered manager are the same person.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The provider had not carried out sufficient and robust checks on staff before they began to work with people. The provider did not always ensure staff had the correct training to meet people’s needs. The policies in the service needed to be improved. They did not always accurately reflect how the service was run.
People were happy with the service they received and told us staff arrived on time and stayed for the required amount of time to support them. One person said they did not feel “rushed”. Sufficient numbers of staff were employed in the service to meet people's needs.
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.
Staff were confident in reporting safeguarding concerns to their line manager. They said they had more than enough personal protective equipment to reduce the risk of spreading infection between people they supported. The provider said they had learned lessons from starting the service.
The provider had begun to carry out checks on staff practices and sought feedback from people and their relatives.
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 24 July 2020 and this is the first inspection.
We carried out a targeted inspection to monitor the progress of the service. We inspected and found there were concerns with recruitment and training, so we widened the scope of the inspection to become a focused inspection which included the key questions of safe and well-led.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
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 monitor the service.
We have identified breaches in relation to regulation 19 (Fit and Proper Persons Employed) and regulation 17 (Good Governance). The breaches concerned the recruitment and training of staff and the accuracy of documents held by the service. We served a warning notice on the provider and asked them to make improvements within a specified timescale.
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.