Home First - Stafford

Home First – Stafford is a short-term enablement service for people living in the Stafford area. The service supports adults with health and social needs to maximise or regain their independence. At the time of our inspection, the service was supporting 38 people living in their own homes.

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

People felt safe and were protected from the risk of harm by staff who understood their responsibilities to identify and report any signs of potential abuse.

People were supported by staff who had the skills and knowledge to provide effective support. There were enough staff available to provide care which met people’s needs. Medicines were managed safely, and people were protected from the risk of infections as staff followed the additional guidance in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quality assurance systems were in place to monitor the service to ensure lessons were learnt when things went wrong. There was a positive culture within the service. Complaints were acted on and improvements made.

The registered manager understood their responsibilities and was open and reflective during the inspection.

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 07 August 2019) and there was a breach of regulation. 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 improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

Our intelligence and monitoring systems highlighted to us that the service was high risk. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for this service remains requires improvement.

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

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.

Home First is a short-term enablement service for people living in the Stafford area. The service supports adults with health and social needs to maximise or regain their independence. At the time of our inspection, the service was supporting 55 people living in their own homes.

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

Home First is a short-term enablement service for people living in the Stafford area. The service supports adults with health and social needs to maximise or regain their independence. At the time of our inspection, the service was supporting 55 people living in their own homes.

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

The systems used by the provider weren’t always caring which meant people’s dignity may not always have been respected. We received mixed responses from people about whether the care staff were kind and caring.

People were not always protected by a complaints system as some complaints weren’t recorded. People and their relatives told us the care they received responded to their own individual needs. However, staff told us they didn’t always get to know people due to the rota system in place.

People were not protected by a robust governance system. Improvements were needed in the support given to staff.

People and their relatives told us they thought the service was well led and would recommend the service to others.

People told us they felt safe. Staff knew how to protect people from the risk of abuse and how to recognise any signs of potential abuse. People’s risks were managed. People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff who had been recruited safely.

People received effective care from staff who had been trained to deliver their care. Staff had the confidence, skills and knowledge to deliver effective care. Staff worked with other professionals to ensure people received effective 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.

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 11/06/2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a scheduled inspection.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to governance systems not being effective.

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. 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.

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