Care Delivered Ltd

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 or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

Care Delivered Ltd is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. 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 the inspection the service was supporting two people with personal care support.

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

Right Support: There were sufficient numbers of suitably skilled staff to meet people's assessed needs. Staff knew people well and understood their communication needs. Staff were recruited with specific communication skills to meet people’s individual communication needs.

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. Some staff we spoke with could not demonstrate a good knowledge of how the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) applied to their role.

We have made a recommendation about reviewing staff MCA training to ensure staff have a good understanding of their responsibilities

Right Care: The process of assessing and managing risk was not consistent and risk assessments did not always include adequate risk management plans. We found risks around eating and drinking and skin integrity were not adequately assessed. Medicines support in care plans was not in line with current best practice guidelines.

We have made a recommendation about delivering medicines support in line with current best practice guidelines.

People’s representatives told us they thought people were safe and well looked after. Staff understood how to recognise and report any signs of abuse or neglect.

Right Culture: There was a system for monitoring the quality and safety of the service, but this was not always effective and had not identified some of the issues we found. The provider was not following safe recruitment procedures as they had not obtained a full employment history when recruiting new staff. People told us managers regularly checked on them to make sure they were happy with their service. Staff were positive about the support they received from the management team and the provider.

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

This service was registered with us on 10 October 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this 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 risk management and recruitment at this inspection. We have made recommendations about reviewing MCA training and consulting best practice guidance for supporting people to manage their medicines. 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 work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.