Archived: MyCareCrew Ltd

Updated 30 June 2023

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

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

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

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

We gave the service 24 hours' 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.

Inspection activity started on 16 May 2023 and ended on 26 May 2023. We visited the location's office on 16 and 22 May 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we had received about the service, including the previous inspection report and notifications. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who used the service about their experience of the care provided and 2 relatives. We spoke with 4 members of staff including the registered manager and 3 care staff. We also spoke to the providers representative. We reviewed a range of records, including 5 people's care records in detail and 3 staff files in relation to recruitment, staff supervision and training. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, training and policies and procedures were also reviewed. We received feedback from 2 professionals including 1 health care professional.

Updated 30 June 2023

About the service

MyCareCrew Ltd is a domiciliary care agency which provides support and personal care to people living in their own home. 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. At the time of our inspection 12 people were receiving a regulated activity from this service.

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

People told us they felt safe, and we identified some improvements had been made in relation to the implementation of formal risk assessments to mitigate risks to people. However, we found specific risk assessments had not consistently been completed, as required to provide guidance to staff on how to monitor and manage people’s specific conditions.

Recruitment checks were not always fully completed to ensure staff were suitable to work with people using the service. People and relatives all confirmed staff were on time for care calls, they were not rushed and received support from a consistent staff team. People's safety was promoted through the prevention and control of infection. Staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE), such as disposable aprons and gloves and worn these as required.

We could not be assured staff received an effective induction or appropriate training to provide them with the skills required to support people effectively and safely. Although it was evident staff had not received training in a timely way, all people and relatives we spoke with were highly complementary about the skills of the staff.

Where required staff ensured people were supported to have good levels of hydration and nutrition. Staff supported people to access healthcare professionals when they needed them and worked alongside health and social care professionals to ensure a joined-up approach to people's 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. People told us they were treated well by staff, who were kind and caring and treated them with dignity and respect.

Quality and safety monitoring systems had failed to identify the concerns we found in relation to recruitment, risk management, the induction process and training. These concerns had also been highlighted at the last inspection. The actions taken to address these issues following the last inspection had not resulted in effective improvement. This placed people at continued risk of receiving unsafe care and treatment.

At the last inspection we identified the registered manager was providing a high number of care hours each week which affected their ability to complete their management tasks effectively. This continued to be the case.

The management team were open and transparent and understood their regulatory responsibilities to notify CQC of all significant events that occurred in the service. The registered manager understood their formal responsibilities regarding duty of candour. The management team kept in regular contact with people, checking if they were happy with the service they received and if any changes were needed. People, relatives, and professionals were exceptionally positive about the culture of the service. They described the service as well led and told us they would recommend this service to others.

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 6 April 2022) and there were breaches of regulation. We also made 3 recommendations. These recommendations included the provider to review and implement best practice guidance in relation to individual risks; review and implement best practice guidance for the assessment of people's needs and the provider review their duty of candour policy so they are fully aware of their responsibilities in relation to this.

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 the provider remained in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions of safe, effective and well-led which contain those requirements. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. 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 remained requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified 4 breaches of regulation including, Regulation 19 (Fit and proper persons employed), Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment), Regulation 18 (Staffing) and Regulation 17 (Good governance).

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good.