Archived: Glee Care Ltd

Updated 6 April 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection took place on 4 and 8 February 2016 and was unannounced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. We looked at statutory notifications the service had sent us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also reviewed the information in the Provider's Information Return (PIR). This is a form we asked the provider to send us before we visited. The PIR asked the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. They also sent us a list of people who used the service so we could select people we wished to speak with and arrange convenient times to speak with them.

During our visit we spoke with the registered manager who was also the registered provider, three people who used the service, two relatives of people who used the service and two care workers. We also contact the local authority who funded a number of people to use the service. They told us that the service was able to respond quickly to take on new packages but that some people did not tend to stay with the service for long before requesting a change in provider.

We looked at the care records of four people who used the service to see how their care and support was planned and delivered. Care records included risk assessments, care plans, medicine records and daily records. We also looked at the recruitment files of three members of staff, training records, records of meetings, complaints, policies and procedures and records of incidents and accidents. We also reviewed information on how the quality of the service was monitored and managed.

Updated 6 April 2016

This announced inspection took place on the 4 and 8 February 2016.

Glee Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency which provides care and support to people living in their own homes. They are able to support people with a range of complex needs including mental health, learning disabilities and older people. The service currently provides care for people living in the rural areas of Warwickshire.

At the time of the inspection Glee Care Ltd was providing domiciliary care for 12 people.

There was a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was also the registered provider,

The service was registered with the Care Quality Commission in May 2014. This was the first inspection of the service.

At this inspection, feedback from people who used the service and relatives was positive. Both parties agreed that the quality of the care was good. People told us that they had consistent carers.

We found that people frequently did not receive their calls on time and that staff felt under pressure as they felt that call schedules were unrealistic.

We identified risks to people who used the service had not always been appropriately addressed or managed. Not all the people who received a service had a detailed care plan or risk assessment which covered their support needs and personal wishes.

Risk assessments that were in place did not address all areas of need and information in risk assessments was not always accurate.

Staff told us that they received a basic induction into the service and had received mandatory training. However, training records failed to evidence induction for staff and we found that training records were incomplete and had not been kept up to date. Staff understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Staff that worked in the service were kind and caring.

People's care plans were not always personalised and plans did not always reflect people's wishes and preferences. Staff had knowledge of people's life history and things that were of interest to them despite the lack of information in the care records. Further action was needed to ensure people were at the centre of their care and care plans were developed and reviewed with people's involvement.

Staff were positive about their work but we received mixed feedback on the support staff received from the registered manager and provider.

The provider did not have an effective quality governance and assurance system in place. There was no evidence to demonstrate that the provider reviewed, identified shortfalls and took steps to make any improvements.

We identified breaches to Regulations 17 and 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014; (Good Governance and Fit and proper persons employed). You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.