Emezzions Care

Updated 25 January 2024

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of an operations manager, an inspector and a regulatory coordinator.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We looked at all the information we held about the provider including information related to the incident. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also received some feedback from the local authority in relation to this service.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited two supported living services to ascertain whether people were in receipt of personal care. We spoke with 1 person who used the service, 1 external professional, 6 care workers, a senior member of staff, the registered manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We viewed a range of records. This included 3 people's care records to ascertain whether they received a regulated activity. We saw 6 staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. We viewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including medicines support records, audits, meeting records and procedures.

Updated 25 January 2024

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and/ or who are autistic.

About the service

Emezzions is a domiciliary care service providing personal care. The service provides support to people living in their own homes and those in supported living services. At the time of our inspection there was 1 person in receipt of personal care, who was living in a supported living service run by the provider. The provider ran other supported living services, but people using those services were not in receipt of a regulated activity. The provider supported people with learning disabilities and mental health needs.

People’s experience of the service and what we found:

Right Care

The person felt safe. Staff were caring and treated them with dignity and respect. People’s care and risk management plans did not always set out their current care needs and lacked detail in their preferences and personalised information. Staff received regular training, supervision and the provider checked their competency. The person we spoke with felt the service was managed well and their care needs were met.

Right Support

The provider did not always operate safe recruitment processes. Although the provider supported the person with their meals when needed, there was little recorded information about their preferences in relation to food and there was no evidence the provider actively encouraged healthier food options for the person as was required. Staff communicated with the person effectively. The provider had appropriate infection prevention and control measures in place and staff supported the person with their medicines appropriately. There were appropriate procedures for responding to and learning from accidents and incidents. There were enough staff to meet the person's needs. The person was 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 Culture

The person we spoke with knew how to raise issues or complaints and the provider responded to these appropriately. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and although the provider was using these, they did not identify the issues we found. The person and staff were asked to give feedback about the service. The service worked in partnership with other professionals to meet people’s needs, but their recommendations were not always fully incorporated into people’s plan of care.

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

Rating at last inspection

The service was registered with us on 9 October 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part by the notification of an incident, following which a person using the service died. This incident is subject to further investigation by CQC as to whether any regulatory action should be taken. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risk of people’s health conditions. This inspection examined those risks.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to person- centred care, safe care and treatment and good governance.

We have made a recommendation relating to working with other agencies.

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.