Curant Care - Ashford Also known as South Eastern Solutions Limited

Curant Care – Ashford is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to 41 younger adults with physical disabilities and adults aged 65 and over. At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. 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

People and relatives had mixed views about the service. Some relatives shared positive experiences, and some had negative experiences. Comments included, “They do not have the courtesy to tell you they are running late and can’t attend. I don’t get information about who is coming and what time. [Staff member] is lovely, she has care and compassion”; “I feel I am in safe hands”; “I feel my loved one is in good hands and its peace of mind for me and enables me to carry on working, they really look after them” and “I feel very safe with them, some of the carers need more prompting than others, on the whole they are very good.”

Risks to people's safety had not always been identified. Risk assessments did not have all the information staff needed to keep people safe. Care plans did not always contain up to date information about people’s medicines. It was not always clear which medicines people were prescribed. This meant staff did not have all the information they needed to provide safe care.

The provider had not ensured that staff were deployed sufficiently to meet people's assessed needs. People and relatives told us about issues from erratic call times, staff lateness and care visits being cut short because staff were rushing to get to the next care visit.

The service was not always well led. The provider had not carried out the appropriate checks to ensure that the quality of the service was maintained. The provider had failed to identify issues relating to risk management, medicines management, staff deployment and designing and providing care to meet people’s needs we had identified.

Prior to people receiving a service their needs were not always thoroughly assessed. People’s oral care, medicines and health needs were not always included in the information obtained before packages started to enable staff to provide safe, person-centred care and support. We made a recommendation about this.

The provider had an up to date infection prevention and control (IPC) policy. Staff had completed IPC training. Staff had access to enough personal protective equipment (PPE), however staff did not always wear PPE to keep themselves and people safe.

Staff had completed mandatory training; however, the provider’s training records did not evidence that staff had completed additional training to meet people’s assessed needs such as, diabetes, skin integrity and Parkinson’s disease.

Care plans were in place which provided a list of tasks for staff to complete. These were not always person centred or detailed enough to show new staff what all the tasks were. People and their relatives told us staff knew their needs and preferences well. They told us they had been involved with the care planning process.

People and relatives knew how to complain. Some people and relatives who had complained said changes had been made following their complaints. However, some people and relatives felt they were not always listened to as the same issues kept occurring. We made a recommendation about this.

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.

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 18 August 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staff deployment and medicines practice. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

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 medicines management, risk management, staff deployment, designing care and treatment to meet needs and quality monitoring at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

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