The Care Quality Commission
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Archived: Blakehill Healthcare Wiltshire

Overall: Inadequate read more about inspection ratings

Suite 8-9, Lansdowne Business Centre, Lansdowne Court, Bumpers Way, Bumpers Farm, Chippenham, SN14 6RZ (01249) 447939

Provided and run by:
Blakehill Healthcare Limited

Important: This service is now registered at a different address - see new profile

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of assessment: 27 January and 5 February 2025. The service is a domiciliary care agency providing treatment for disease disorder and injury and personal care to people in the community. This focussed assessment was initiated due to concerns raised about the service and how it was being run. We reviewed all the quality statements in the safe and well-led domains. We found 2 breaches of the legal regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance.

The service was not always being managed safely. Staff were not always being recruited in line with current legislation. Staff told us manual handling training was not adequate and the ongoing auditing of staff to ensure their practice was of a good standard did not regularly occur. Medicines were not always being administered safely. For example, a person’s medicine was not being administered in line with the manufacturer’s guidance, whilst other people were being supported with medicines that were not being signed for on a medication administration record (MAR). The provider’s audits failed to identify any issues with medicines, which meant people were put at risk of harm.

The provider had experienced a period of instability for the management of the service due to several changes in the senior leadership team over the last 6 months This meant there was no consistent management oversight within the service.

The provider did not have appropriate oversight of performance to enable them to learn and develop their service.

In instances where CQC has decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded. This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.

14 April 2022

During a routine inspection

About the service

Blakehill Healthcare is a domiciliary care service, providing personal care to people living in and around Chippenham. At the time of our inspection, 22 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

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

Safeguarding was taken seriously and people felt safe whilst being supported. There were enough staff to support people safely and on time, unless for reasons such as traffic. Robust procedures were followed when recruiting new staff. Risks people faced had been assessed, and their medicines were safely managed. Systems were in place to prevent and control the risk of infection.

People’s needs were assessed before they were offered a service. Staff received a range of training, although some people said more training in the use of a hoist was needed. Staff were well supported and there was an on call service, for any advice that was needed outside of office hours. People received support with meal preparation, as detailed in their care plan.

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.

People and their relatives were complimentary about the staff. They said they were kind, caring and respectful. People were encouraged to make decisions about their support and their rights to privacy, dignity and independence were promoted.

People were supported by staff who knew them well and attention was given to their communication needs. Each person had a care plan, although some of the information was limited in detail. People’s daily records were also task orientated rather than being person-centred. People were happy with their support, and knew how to raise a concern if needed. The service was able to provide palliative care, although no one required this type of care at the time of the inspection.

The registered manager was passionate about the service and there was a positive culture. Staff had adopted this passion and were complimentary about the registered manager. Systems were in place to enable people, their relatives and staff to give their views about the service. Their feedback was taken seriously and used to improve the service. An auditing system was in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service.

We have made two recommendations about the clarity of information within people’s care plans and additional staff training regarding the hoists people use.

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 16 October 20201 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

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