K2 Care Limited

Updated 27 July 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out this announced inspection between 10 May and 11 June 2019.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because we wanted to speak with people who use the service and staff, prior to visiting the service.

Inspection activity started on 10 May 2019 and ended on 12 June 2019. We visited the office location on 11 June 2019.

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 and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and five relatives about their experience of the care provided. As not all people using the service spoke English, we used an interpreter to help us with this. We spoke with nine staff members including the registered manager, four care workers, two team leaders, the office manager and the service administrator. We received feedback via email from five external social care professionals. These included a social worker, a commissioner for the 0- 25years disability service, the local authority quality monitoring team, and the local authority safeguarding team.

We sampled a range of records. This included five people’s care records and six people’s medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to staff training and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, investigations and meeting minutes.

After the inspection

The registered manager sent us additional information regarding medicines administration, end of life care and governance.

Updated 27 July 2019

K2 Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to adults and children living in their own homes in the Peterborough and surrounding areas. 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. At the time of this inspection, 41 people received the regulated activity, personal care.

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

The provider had systems in place to check the quality of the service provided. However, these were not sufficiently robust and had not identified the shortfalls we found during this inspection in relation to medicine records, and investigations. People received support to receive their medicines as prescribed. However, records did not always give staff clear guidance on what medicines they should administer, or what medicines people had taken. Senior staff did not always carry out robust investigations or take prompt action to reduce the risk of incidents recurring. However, the provider had recognised they needed to improve their governance systems and were receptive to feedback and responded quickly to address the shortfalls we found.

Staff knew the people they cared for well and understood, and met, their needs. People were protected from avoidable harm by a staff team trained to recognise and report any concerns. Staff assessed and minimised any potential risks to people. Staff followed the provider’s procedures to prevent the spread of infection and reduce the risk of cross contamination.

The provider had systems in place to make sure they only employed staff once they had checked they were suitable to work with people who used the service. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs safely. The registered manager reviewed staffing levels and people needs regularly. People received care from staff who were trained and well supported to meet people’s assessed needs.

Staff supported people to have enough to eat and drink. They worked with external professionals, following their guidance, to support people to keep well.

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 involved in making decisions about their care and support.

Staff were respectful when they spoke with, and about, people. They supported people to develop their independence. Support was person-centred and met each person’s specific needs. People and their relatives were involved in their, or their family member's, care reviews. The registered manager sought feedback from people about the quality of the service provided.

People’s care plans provided staff with guidance on how to meet each person’s needs. The service did not provide specialist end of life care but would continue to care for people at the end of their life with support from external health professionals. The registered manager told us they were looking to further develop end of life and future wishes care plans to ensure people’s wishes were known to staff. Staff worked in partnership with other professionals to ensure that people received care that met their needs.

Systems were in place to deal with any concerns or complaints. The registered manager told us they tried to address any concerns at an early stage, thereby resolving issues before they became complaints.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (the last report was published 12 November 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.