Northern Case Management Bury Office

Updated 13 January 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 inspection was carried out by one inspector 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 adults and children 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 the service short 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 13 December 2022 and ended on 20 December 2022. We visited the location’s office on the 13 December 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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

We spoke with the relatives of 4 people. We spoke with 11 members of staff including the business director, registered manager, case managers, administrator and support staff. We also sought feedback from healthcare professionals involved in people’s care.

As part of the inspection we looked at staff recruitment records, training and development and reviewed support plans and risk assessments. We also looked at safeguarding procedures and systems to monitor and reviewed the quality of service provided.

Updated 13 January 2023

About the service

Northern Case Management is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to people in their own homes. The service specialises in providing case management and support to adults and children with an acquired brain and spinal cord injury.

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 the inspection the service was supporting 81 people; of these 16 received a regulatory activity

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

Safe systems were in place to help keep people safe. Staff received relevant training and development to equip them in delivering the support people wanted and needed. Staff were provided with personal protective equipment to help minimise the risk of cross infection. Where people received support with their prescribed medicines, this was managed safely.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities to report any concerns and were confident these would be acted upon. Robust staff recruitment procedures were in place. Staff retention was an on-going issue with contingency plans in place to help minimise the impact on people’s support. Where areas of risk had been identified these were monitored and reviewed so that people's current and changing needs were effectively met.

Governance systems were in place to monitor and review the quality of the service. Staff understood their role and responsibilities and felt supported by the management team. Additional plans were being made to enhance the service.

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 5 June 2019).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. We received concerns in relation to staffing levels and skills to support people’s individual needs. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service good based on the findings of this inspection.

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 report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Northern Case Management on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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