North Star Case Management Ltd

Updated 3 August 2023

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

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 and flats.

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 to enable the registered manager to share information via an electronic file sharing system for the performance review and assessment.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about 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

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls to enable us to engage with the registered manager, telephone calls to staff and people’s relatives and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. We spoke with 6 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 13 members of staff including the registered manager, case managers and support workers. We reviewed 4 people's care records including care plans, risk assessments and medicines records. We looked at staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were also reviewed including safeguarding and incident monitoring, auditing processes and staff training.

Updated 3 August 2023

About the service

North Star Case Management Ltd is a domiciliary care agency that provides a specialist support and rehabilitation service, coordinating bespoke care packages for adults and children who have sustained complex life changing injuries such as an acquired brain injury. Case managers work closely with people and families to set up and coordinate their rehabilitation, care and support needs. At the time of our inspection there were 20 people using the service

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.

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:

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.

People’s goals and wishes were considered as part of their assessment of needs and the case managers ensured these were met. People's interests, goals and wishes were considered, and people were supported by staff to take part in activities and social events. Staff understood how to communicate with people effectively and used technology to do this. People were supported with their hydration and nutritional needs.

Right Care:

People’s relatives we spoke with were very complementary about the care their loved one received and were fully involved in people’s care. People and their families were involved in the recruitment of care staff with the support from their case manager. Staff were trained and had the skills to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff administering medicines had received the appropriate training and had been assessed as competent to administer medicines safely. Staff demonstrated an awareness of the importance of infection control when supporting people with complex health conditions.

Right Culture:

People were supported by staff that promoted a positive culture which was person-centred and inclusive. Staff were committed to support people to excel in life and worked with other professionals to ensure, where possible, people could lead a life that was not restricted by their injury and health conditions. Relatives told us they had not had to raise a complaint but were confident to raise any concerns they had and felt they would be listened to.

The provider and registered manager had a clear understanding of their role in ensuring effective oversight and management of the service. Systems and processes were in place to seek feedback from people, their relatives and staff to improve the quality of people’s care. Staff worked closely with a range of health and social care professionals to achieve positive outcomes for people.

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 08 April 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.

Follow up

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