Standon Gardens Domiciliary Services

Standon Gardens Domiciliary Services is a domiciliary and extra care service providing personal care. All support was currently being provided on one single site with multiple apartments. At the time of our inspection there were seven people using the service.

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

Medicines were not always managed safely, however the care manager took action to address omissions following our feedback. There were enough safely recruited staff to support people, although staff employment histories needed recording more robustly.

Effective systems and processes were not fully in place or embedded to ensure the safety of care was monitored and improvements made, such as in relation to not always identifying medicines management omissions. Fully accurate contemporaneous notes about people’s care were not always recorded. Times of calls and the specific details of each call were not always recorded. The management team had acted on feedback following a monitoring call with the CQC. Improvements to people’s care plans and risk assessments were required as there was missing information about people’s needs and health conditions; this was in progress and one which had been completed was of a good quality.

People felt safe and well supported and staff knew people well. Lessons had been learned when things had gone wrong. Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities. People were protected from the risk of cross infection.

There was mixed feedback about the quality of food people received, but people received enough food and drink to remain healthy. People felt well supported in line with their needs. 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. Evidence was needed to ensure the legal authority for relatives to make decisions on people’s behalf was verified. Staff received training and support to be effective in their role. People generally accessed other health professionals themselves, or with the support of relatives.

People were treated well, with kindness and compassion. Staff listened to people and people were supported to make their own decisions about their care. People were treated with dignity and respect, by staff who knew them well. People were supported to be independent.

People received personalised care and contributed to the development of their care plans. People were supported to access information in a way that suited them. People were supported to reduce their social isolation and to build positive relationship with staff. People and relatives felt able to complain and these were dealt with. People could choose to discuss their end of life wishes, if they chose to.

People, relatives and staff felt positively about the management team. The registered manager was aware of their duty of candour. People were engaged in the service and asked for their input about their care.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for the service at the previous premises was good (published 9 March 2018).

Why we inspected

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

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified a breach in relation to quality assurance and how the service is monitored to ensure it is safe.

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