Malachi Care Services

Malachi Care Services is a domiciliary care agency providing support for people in their own homes. Not everyone using the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene, eating and administration of medicines. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. The service was supporting around 40 people at the time of the inspection.

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

Governance arrangements within the service required improvement. The provider did not have adequate systems in place to ensure care was monitored effectively and to drive improvement. The registered manager said they would implement improvements to governance but before the inspection they had failed to recognise improvements were required.

People using the service and their relatives reported a mixed picture in relation to care. Overall they said they liked the care staff and the management team, but felt communication could be improved; some relatives told us they had implemented their own communication books to improve this.

People gave us negative feedback about food provision. They described the meals staff made as very basic and said staff have limited skills, with some not knowing how to operate kitchen equipment.

We have made a recommendation the provider reviews staff skills and knowledge around nutrition and hydration.

Risk was not always safely managed as records in relation to this were not sufficiently detailed. After the inspection the registered manager told us they were implementing improvements to this and gave examples of work they had already carried out.

We have made a recommendation the provider carries out work to review and identify risks.

Medicines and infection control procedures were appropriately followed, with staff receiving training in these areas.

People’s relatives said staff were respectful and kind, although they said continuity of staffing had diminished in recent months.

Staff told us they enjoyed working for the provider and described them as supportive. They told us they received good quality training and felt it equipped them to carry out their roles effectively.

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 in November 2020 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 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.