The inspection took place on 4 and 5 August 2015 and was announced. We had last inspected Direct Health (Tyneside) in March 2014. At that inspection we found the service was meeting the legal requirements in force at the time.
Direct Health (Tyneside) is a domiciliary care agency that provides home care services to people in North Tyneside and Gateshead. At the time of our inspection services were provided to 130 people who were predominantly older people, people with dementia-related conditions and other mental health needs, and people with physical and learning disabilities.
The service had a registered manager in post. 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 care was planned to prevent and manage risks to people’s safety and welfare. People told us they felt safe with their care workers. New staff were checked and vetted and there were sufficient staff to provide people’s care services.
Safeguarding procedures were understood and followed to protect people from harm and abuse. However adequate arrangements were not in place to make sure people were safely supported in managing their personal finances.
Records did not always demonstrate that people had been given their prescribed medicines correctly. The service had just introduced a system to identify and act on recording discrepancies.
Staff received appropriate training and support that equipped them for their roles and ensured they could deliver the care that people required.
People were well supported in meeting their nutritional needs, including where they had special diets. Health needs were addressed and staff monitored people’s well-being and contacted health care professionals when necessary.
People were consulted about and agreed to their care and support. Care needs were thoroughly assessed and care was planned in a personalised way according to the individual’s preferences.
People and their relatives told us they had formed good relationships with their regular care workers. They told us their care workers were kind and caring and respected their privacy and dignity. Visits were not missed and the staff team worked flexibly to accommodate people’s changing needs.
There was a clear complaints process and any concerns received were taken seriously and investigated. People told us they received a good service, though some were dissatisfied with the number of different care workers who visited them and contact with office based staff. We have made a recommendation about co-ordination of the service and communication with people and their families.
The registered manager provided leadership and was keen to improve the standards of the service. The quality of the service was continuously monitored and took account of people’s care experiences and suggestions for improvement.
We found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 relating to safeguarding and medicines management. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.