FDR Social Care

Updated 3 May 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 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses.

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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

Inspection activity started on 13 March 2023 and ended on 24 March 2023. We visited the location’s office on 15 March 2023.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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 (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 1 person and 1 relative of a person who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 4 members of staff including the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people’s care records and 2 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management and oversight of the service, including policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 3 May 2023

About the service

FDR Social Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 2 people using the service.

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.

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

Right Support:

Risks to people had been assessed but mitigating strategies had not always been implemented. Staff did not always understand or follow safeguarding procedures and they did not demonstrate they knew how to protect people from potential abuse and harm. Staff did not always support people with dignity and respect; staff had to be reminded to preserve people’s dignity.

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. Staff ensured they asked consent from people before supporting them. Staff understood people's rights to refuse care.

People were involved in their care planning. People’s care plans included information which reflected their protected characteristics under the Equality Act.

Right Care:

The provider failed to ensure staff were recruited using safe recruitment practices. The provider failed to ensure staff received adequate induction, training or supervision to provide person centred, safe care to people. People were at risk of receiving care from staff that were not of good character or had the skills and knowledge to provide safe care.

People’s records were not always accurate as they did not reflect the care given by the staff who provided the care. People’s care plans did not include information on how staff were to provide care to mitigate the known health care risks. People’s care plans were not always reviewed when people’s needs changed.

Staff did not always demonstrate kindness as they took advantage of people’s vulnerability.

Staff could access healthcare professionals if needed. Staff supported people with meal preparation as required.

Right Culture:

There was very poor managerial oversight of safeguarding, incidents, complaints, people’s records, rotas, staff records and audits. The provider failed to have systems to assess, monitor, mitigate risks and improve the service.

People, relatives and staff had been asked to feedback on the service, but these had not been analysed or used to drive improvements.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 24 February 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe, Caring and Well Led sections of this full report.

We have identified breaches in relation to safeguarding, care planning, staffing, recruitment, maintaining dignity and respect and governance at this inspection. 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.

The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.

For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.