Annicare North

Updated 26 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

The inspector was carried out by two 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 homes.

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

We gave a short period of notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 05 May 2023 and ended on 22 June 2023. We visited the location’s office on 16 May 2023 and 23 May 2023. We continued the inspection reviewing written evidence remotely.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service since the last inspection, including information we received from the local authority safeguarding team. 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

As part of the inspection we spoke with 10 relatives or friends of people. We spoke with 7 staff members and the registered manager. We also spoke with a member of the local authority safeguarding adults team. We reviewed care records of 7 people which included a mixture of care plans, medicines records and daily care notes. We also reviewed recruitment files of 7 staff members, as well as training records of the wider staff team.

Updated 26 September 2023

About the service

Annicare North is a homecare service which provides personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 44 people using the service, including 38 who received personal care. This number varied throughout the inspection period.

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.

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 for or support anyone whose primary support need was their learning disability or autism.

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

Medicines were not always administered and documented in line with best practice. Some action was taken by the provider to rectify concerns around medicines.

Incidents of alleged abuse were not always reported and investigated in a timely manner. Lessons were not always learned from accidents and incidents. Risks to people were not always documented and managed safely.

Staff had not always received training in the provider’s mandatory areas and competence had not always been assessed. Some people and relatives were involved in care planning while others were not.

Quality assurance systems did not always identify concerns or improve the service. People’s and relatives’ views were not always sought. Care call times and staff deployment were not always person centred and this impacted negatively on some people.

Staff were kind and caring and supported people to achieve some positive outcomes, while maintaining their privacy and dignity. People’s communication needs were met, and people were supported to die with dignity when receiving palliative care.

Staff protected people from the risk of infection. The provider worked closely with other healthcare organisations.

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.

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 the service under the previous provider was good, published on 27 March 2019. This provider was registered with us on 30 November 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about governance, recruitment, safeguarding and person-centred care. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report. The provider had taken some action to mitigate risks identified in this inspection. The effectiveness of these actions will be assessed at a future inspection.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, safeguarding, recruitment, training and governance at this inspection.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

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