Benhall Care

Benhall Care is a is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care in people's own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was providing live-in care and support to two people. 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

At the time of the inspection, the service provided live-in carers to people who needed support to live in their own home. The registered manager monitored the quality of care people received through staff observations and feedback from people and their relatives.

However further quality assurance checks needed to be implemented to ensure staff had access to accurate care records and the service fully complied with legal requirements relating to the safe recruitment of staff. We have made a recommendation about maintaining and monitoring accurate and complete records relating to people who use the service and staff

The registered manager had not always ensured fit and proper staff had been employed to provide the regulated activity of personal care.

Staff had access to paper copies of people’s care, medicines and risk management plans which directed them on how to support people to mitigate their risks and manage their medicines.

Staff were trained to care for the people they supported. However, the registered manager recognised that further training was needed to ensure staff had a suitable range of skills if the serviced was to expand.

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 were supported by a small staff team who were familiar with their needs. The approach and kindness of staff were praised by people's relatives. They told us staff were kind and always respectful and

polite.

Staff respected people and their homes. They promoted people's independence and always cared for people with dignity and respect. Staff worked closely with people's relatives to monitor people's well-being.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities to report any concerns of abuse, accidents, incidents and near misses.

The registered manager was passionate about delivering good quality care to people. They valued people feedback and staff suggestions to help drive improvement. People's relatives and staff complimented the registered manager and told us they were approachable and provided support as needed.

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 May 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This service had not been inspected since their registration; therefore, this inspection was carried out to gain assurances about the quality of care and systems used to monitor and manage the service.

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 see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement and Recommendations

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 breaches in relation to the staff recruitment at this inspection.

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 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 and to monitor their progress.

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