Partners4Care Limited

Partners4Care Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own home. At the time of our inspection there were 162 people using the service.

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

Medicines were not always managed safely. The provider struggled to ensure all calls were on time and people often had different staff to support them. They assured us they were doing everything possible to recruit and retain staff to minimise the impact on people. Staff were recruited safely and appropriate pre-employment were done. New staff had access to an improved induction programme and shadowed experienced colleagues until they were confident to work alone. Risks to people were identified, assessed and measures were in place to mitigate these. The provider had effective systems in place to ensure people were protected from abuse. Staff had a good understanding of their responsibility in terms of safeguarding. People were supported by staff who had received training in infection prevention control and used the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

Quality assurance and governance systems in place were not always effective or robust. The provider had failed to ensure care records were easily accessible to all staff. Better communication was required around rotas and changes to staff. People often found office staff difficult to deal with and said calls were not always returned. The provider made attempts to gather feedback however staff meetings were not well attended and not everyone we spoke with had received a survey or questionnaire. Staff found the manager and wider management team approachable and supportive. People using the service were not always clear who the manager was. The provider worked in partnership with other professionals and/or stakeholders to benefit people using the 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.

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 location did not care or 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.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 9 July 2021).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staff training, particularly around medicines, timing of calls, staff welfare and the attitude of office staff. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Partners4Care Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to the management oversight at the service, including quality checks and accurate record keeping at this inspection.

We have made a recommendation about improving communication around late calls and staff changes.

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 from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

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

Care records were on an electronic system. Most records were comprehensive and up to date. However, some of the care plans we looked at required further information and we were assured by the registered manager this would be quickly addressed. People were involved in decisions about their care. Staff were aware of people's communication needs and how best to support them. People were not always happy with the way complaints were handled and we have made a recommendation about this.

Most of the people we spoke with were happy with the care they received. One person told us, “Partners 4 care have been brilliant throughout the pandemic. Staff make time to chat to me, encourage me to do what I can and help with what I can’t. I can’t think of any Improvements.”

Medicines were well managed, and people were happy with the way staff gave them their medicines. Staff were aware of how to identify and report safeguarding concerns. Safe recruitment practices were followed. Staff followed infection control procedures, had access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and had been trained in how to use it safely.

Staff training was up to date. The staff we spoke with were happy with the training they had received. People were supported by a range of healthcare professionals and staff sought medical assistance when people were unwell. Where people required support with eating and drinking, staff had the skills to support them safely. 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 promoted people's independence and respected their rights, privacy and dignity. Where possible, care was delivered by a small group of staff to provide consistency. Some people were unhappy with last minute changes to the rota and the registered manager acknowledged this had been difficult to manage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Late and missed calls were kept to a minimum by using an electronic monitoring system which alerted office-based staff to any delays so action could be taken.

The registered manager had systems in place to monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided. People's views about the service were sought individually and through surveys. The most recent survey was not very well responded to and some people did not seem to have received their copy. The manager was going to review how feedback was obtained. Most staff we spoke with felt well supported and able to approach the management team with any issues or concerns.

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.

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 26 September 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date the service was registered.

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.