Empathy Care24 Northampton

Updated 2 September 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 2 inspectors and an Expert by Experience.

An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 21 March 2023 and ended on 18 April 2023. We visited the location’s office on 21 March 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority who work with the service. 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 9 people who used the service and 8 relatives of a person using the service, about their experience of the care provided. We received feedback from 17 care workers and spoke with the registered manager and the nominated individual for the service. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 8 people’s care records and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment.

Updated 2 September 2023

About the service

Empathy Care24 Northampton is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care. The service provides support to children, younger adults and older people, people with dementia, mental health, physical disability, sensory impairment, learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of our inspection there were 68 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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

Right Support:

Risk assessments and associated care plans were not consistently in place or updated to reflect people’s current needs and mitigate risks. Medicines were not always managed safely. Staff understood the signs of abuse and how to report it to protect people. Accidents and incidents were recorded but action was not always taken where needed to prevent re-occurrence.

Staff were recruited safely in line with the regulatory requirements. Staff told us there were enough staff to support people and meet their needs. However, care calls were not always completed at the planned times and some people felt their care was rushed and told us staff arrived late.

People were protected from the risk of infection and staff used personal protective equipment (PPE) appropriately in line with the latest government guidance.

People were leading their care and making their own decisions and choices in there day to day care delivery. People were mostly happy with care staff and found them to be kind and caring.

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.

Right Care:

Staff received regular training and supervision. However, not all staff had the skills and knowledge to carry out their role effectively. Senior members of staff needed further support to ensure they were competent to complete the tasks assigned to them.

People's care plans did not always provide staff with information and guidance on how to support people safely and in a person centred way. Initial assessments took place to ensure that the service could meet people’s needs. However, people's records were not always updated following a change in support needs.

There was evidence of partnership working and seeking guidance from other health care professionals to meet people’s needs. However, there was some evidence that staff hadn’t always followed guidance. People were supported with eating and drinking where required.

Right Culture:

Systems and processes were either not in place or not effective in maintaining oversight of the safety and quality of the service and identifying concerns and areas for improvement. The provider had not implemented a robust action plan to learn and improve from the previous inspection. The provider was in the process of improving how they sought feedback from people to help with driving improvement. Staff had the opportunity to share ideas and felt listened to.

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 01 January 2023). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last 2 consecutive inspections.

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 carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 24 October 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve need for consent. We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. We also checked whether the Warning Notice we previously served in relation to Regulations 12 and 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions safe, effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Empathy Care24 on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to the safety and managerial oversight of the service at this inspection.

Since the last inspection we recognised that the provider had failed to submit notifications of other incidents and had not met the requirement as to display of performance assessments. This was a breach of regulation. Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to this is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

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. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress and continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.