Background to this inspection
Updated
1 January 2020
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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by one inspector and one assistant inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own home.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a domiciliary care 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 2 September and ended on 6 September 2019. We visited the office location on 2 September 2019. We continued to speak with people and their relatives via telephone on 24 October and 14 November 2019.
What we did before inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since their registration. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with 15 people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the registered manager, the regional manager, care co-ordinators and an NVQ assessor.
We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to speak with people to seek their opinion of the care they and their loved ones received, as well as seeking clarification from the registered manager and regional manager to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.
Updated
1 January 2020
About the service
Careline Homecare (South Tyneside) is a domiciliary care service providing personal care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection, the service was supporting 236 people who lived in their homes.
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
Some people’s care plans lacked detailed risk assessments to support staff to care for people safely. In addition, risk assessments had not always been reassessed and updated when people’s needs had changed. Audits to monitor the quality and performance of the service had been completed. However, these were not always effective and had failed to identify issues found during inspection.
Every person we spoke with told us they felt safe and were happy with the care they received from staff. There were sufficient numbers of staff employed and people told us staff were usually on time. Where staff had arrived late, or had missed calls, investigations were carried out to understand the reasons for this. Staff were recruited safely.
Staff had received training in safeguarding matters and were confident in their knowledge and actions they would take if any safeguarding matters arose. Medicines were mostly managed safely.
People’s needs were assessed prior to the commencement of their care package. Staff had received appropriate training and had the necessary skills and experience to care for people safely. Staff made sure people had access to healthcare professionals to support their health and well-being. However, improvements were required to make sure outcomes were obtained when issues were raised with other professionals.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and for the majority, in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People told us the service was well run and were complimentary of the level of care and support the staff provided.
We have identified two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
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 6 March 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Enforcement
We have identified two breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, and the governance of the service at this inspection
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will ask the provider to provide an action plan of how they plan to improve their rating to at least good.
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.