Archived: 1st for Care (GB) Ltd

Updated 19 January 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.

This inspection took place on 14 October & 03 November 2015 and was announced. When we visited the office on 14 October 2015 the registered manager was not available. We spoke with the nominated individual. Due to size and geographical spread of the service we wanted to speak to the registered manager and therefore returned on the 03 November 2015 for a second announced visit. The inspection was carried out by an adult social care inspector.

Prior to the inspection taking place, information from a variety of sources was gathered and analysed. This included notifications submitted by the provider relating to incidents, accidents, health and safety and safeguarding concerns which affect the health and wellbeing of people.

We spoke with four staff members. This included the registered manager and the nominated individual for the organisation, who was also a director. We also spoke with another director who was involved in the everyday running of the service and one member of staff responsible for delivering care.

We spoke with one person who received care and support to gain their views on the service provided. We also spoke with two relatives of people who received a service to see if they were satisfied.

To gather information, we looked at a variety of records. This included care records relating to the three people in receipt of service and recruitment files relating to three staff members. We also viewed other documentation which was relevant to the management of the service including insurance documents, policies and procedures and training records.

We were unable to meet with any of the people who used the service or their relatives as people did not consent to us visiting them at their home. This meant we were unable to undertake any observations of care practices which would help inform the findings of the report. Discussions with people who used the service and their relatives took place by phone.

Updated 19 January 2016

This announced inspection took place 14 October 2015 & 03 November 2015.

1st for Care (GB) Ltd is a domiciliary care agency which provides care and support to people with complex care needs to people living in their own home. 1st for Care (GB) Ltd offers a service nationally but has its office base in Lancaster. At the time of the inspection 1st for Care (GB) Ltd was providing domiciliary care to three people. The registered provider had one permanent member of staff employed and three casual staff.

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 service was registered with the Care Quality Commission in June 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 service provision was good. We were informed staff were reliable and always attended the scheduled shifts.

Staffing was flexible and responsive to people’s needs. When changes to support times were requested the registered provider consistently endeavoured to meet the new requests.

However, we identified risks to people who used the service was not always appropriately addressed and managed. Not all of 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 were positive about their work and confirmed they were supported by the registered provider. Staff said there was a positive culture within the service and staff views were respected.

Communication systems were in place between the registered provider and registered manager to keep the registered manager up to date. However the registered manager was not fully aware of all people’s needs and support requirements. The overall management of the service was being overseen by the nominated individual.

We identified breaches to Regulations 17 & 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 the report.