Unique Personnel (UK) Limited

Unique Personnel (UK) Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care support to people living within their own homes. The service was providing care and support to 135 people at the time of the inspection. These included older people, people living with dementia, people with a physical disability and younger adults.

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

Risks to people were not always identified, assessed, and documented. Staff did not always have access to detailed risk management information to ensure the support they provided was safe and appropriate to meet individuals needs and the actions they should take to safely mitigate and manage risks. The providers call monitoring system was ineffective. The electronic call monitoring (ECM) system to monitor call visits made to people was not operated effectively by staff placing people at risk of receiving late or missed call care visits. We received mixed feedback from people in relation to staffing levels and staff arriving at the agreed times to assist them with their care. The service was not well managed. Systems and processes in place for monitoring the quality and safety of the service were not effective in identifying and addressing issues and concerns we found at this inspection and for helping to drive service improvements.

The systems and processes in place for managing and administering people's medicines was not always safe. Systems in place to identify and take action in relation to concerns, safeguarding and poor practice was not always effective. The provider was not always working within the principles of the MCA. Care plans did not always identify and or reflect individual preferences in the way people wished to be supported or contain correct information about their needs, wishes and the support they needed. Care plans and records did not include information regarding people’s end of life care, wishes and preferences. Complaints were not always managed appropriately and in a timely manner and audits in place to learn from or identify themes and trends were not always effective.

We have made a recommendation to the provider that the provider refers to best practice and up to date guidance in relation to staff recruitment and ensures there are systems in place to monitor this.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 19 February 2018). This was the provider's first inspection since their registration at a new location in February 2023.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well Led sections of this full report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the quality and safety of care provided, the management and oversight of the service, missed and late visits and medicine management. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to person-centred care, need for consent, safe care and treatment, receiving and acting on complaints, staffing and good governance. We have also made a recommendation about maintaining and monitoring robust systems to ensure fit and proper persons employed.

We served Warning Notice’s on the provider and registered manager requiring them to comply with three regulations by 12 June 2023. 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 standard 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.