We carried out a review of the data available to us about Good Companions Care at Home Agency on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Good Companions Care at Home Agency, you can give feedback on this service.
Good Companions Care at Home Agency is a domiciliary care service providing personal nursing care to people who live in their own homes. At the time of this inspection 72 people were 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
People and relatives were very positive about the service they received. They told us they received “helpful and friendly” support from “kind and caring” staff.
People said they felt safe and well-supported during the COVID-19 pandemic. They described how staff always wore the correct PPE, washed their hands regularly and followed all the rules and guidelines.
People’s needs and risks to their well-being were assessed and recorded. The quality and detail of the care records was inconsistent. We have made a recommendation about this.
People described staff as “good at their jobs”. People said they were fully involved in managing their own care service. They told us all staff, including office staff, treated them like “part of the family”.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service upheld this practice.
Staff understood how to report any concerns and felt these would be listened to. Some people were assisted with their medicines and there were clear systems to manage this.
At the time of this inspection there were enough staff employed to provide the service. Recently there had been a significant gap in staffing but the provider had worked with commissioners to manage the situation until new staff could be appointed.
People and staff said the management team were open, approachable and always contactable.
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 (published October 2017).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to staffing levels, staff training and how the service was managed. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
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.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Good Companions Care at Home Agency 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.
Good Companions Care at Home Agency provides support people to live as independently as they can in in their own homes. Support includes personal care, shopping and cleaning. The office base is located in a residential area of Carlisle. At the time of our inspection Good Companions Care at Home Agency provided support to over 60 people.
At the last comprehensive inspection in May 2015 the service was rated overall as good. However the safe domain required improvement as there was a breach of regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (regulated activities) Regulations 2014. Although the registered manager had taken action where there had been a safeguarding concern, they had not notified safeguarding issues to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as required.
This breach was met on this inspection and notifications had been sent to CQC as required.
We spoke with people who received a service and their relatives. People we spoke with told us they felt safe and well supported. They told us they received patient and attentive care and they liked the staff who supported them.
People told us they had been visited by the registered manager or assistant manager before their support began who carried out an assessment of their needs. They said staff were polite and respectful, patient and caring. There were procedures in place to protect people from abuse and unsafe care. Staff were familiar with these.
We saw risk assessments were in place for each person and for their environment. This provided guidance for staff and kept people safe.
Staff followed the medicines procedure and supported people with medicines safely. People able to manage their own medicines were encouraged to do so.
People told us they were usually supported by the same few staff who they knew and liked. Only in an emergency were staff who did not usually assist them sent to support them. People told us they had confidence in ‘their staff team’ as they knew how they liked to be supported and cared for them in the way they liked.
Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience needed to care for people. Recruitment was robust and staff told us the training was useful and informative.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Staff supported people to have a good diet. They assisted or prepared meals and drinks for them.
People who received support or where appropriate their relatives, were involved in planning and amending their care plans. Their consent and agreement to provide care were sought.
People who used the service and their relatives told us they knew how to make a complaint and were given opportunities to discuss any concerns.
Senior staff monitored the support staff provided to people. They checked staff arrived on time and supported people in the way people wanted. Audits of care records and risk assessments were carried out regularly.
People told us the registered manager and staff team were approachable and supportive and listened to their views.
Legal obligations, including conditions of registration from CQC, and those placed on them by other external organisations were understood and met.
This inspection took place on the 18th, 19th and 20th of May and was unannounced.
Good Companions Care at Home Agency provides care and support for people who live in their own homes. Their office is located in Carlisle and they provide services in and around the city.
The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
We found that the service was not reporting concerns about vulnerable adults correctly though they were ensuring people were safe. This meant they were in breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (regulated activities) Regulations 2014 Notification of Other Incidents 18 (2) (e).
The service had sufficient appropriately recruited staff available to support people.
Staff were well trained and supported people to live independently.
People told us that staff were caring and treated them with dignity and respect.
Care plans were written in a straightforward manner and based on thorough assessments. They contained sufficient information to enable people to be supported correctly.
The manager showed that they were keen to improve and implement new ideas. There was a quality assurance system in place at the service.