Archived: 24/7 Staffing Support Ltd

Updated 7 April 2018

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 6 February 2018 and was announced. 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 office.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

We reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We looked at information received from local authority and health authority commissioners. Commissioners are people who work to find appropriate care and support services for people and fund the care provided.

We reviewed the provider’s statement of purpose and the notifications we had been sent. A statement of purpose is a document which includes standard information about a service and is required as part of the registration process with CQC. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that providers must tell us about.

During this inspection people were not able to communicate with us about their experiences of support from the service, but we were able to speak to their relatives and spoke with seven people’s relatives. We also spoke with the responsible individual and three care workers.

We looked at records relating to all aspects of the service including care, staffing, and quality assurance. We also looked at four people’s care records and four staff member’s records.

Updated 7 April 2018

This inspection took place on 6 February 2018 and was announced.

We carried out an announced inspection of this service on 27 January 2017. Four breaches of legal requirements were found and we rated the service as 'Requires Improvement'. This was because the provider had failed to: submit statutory notifications when required; ensure people’s medicines were administered safely; ensure people’s consent was sought before offering care; and operate effective systems to assess, monitor and improve the service, and mitigate risks to the health, safety and welfare of the people using it.

In response the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet their legal requirements in relation to the breaches. At this inspection we found that action had been taken and all the breaches had been met and we found improvements had been made to the service.

24/7 Staffing Support Ltd provides personal care and support to people in their own homes in Northampton and the surrounding areas. At the time of this inspection 12 people received personal care from the service.

The service does not have a registered manager. 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 provider said they had identified a person and began the process to register them.

We received positive comments about the service people received. People’s relatives told us they were pleased with the service and the provider and staff listened to them, wanted to hear their views, and kept them informed about the service. Relatives said the provider and staff were approachable and they were kept up-to-date with their family member’s progress and any changes or developments at the service.

Medicines were managed safely and people told us they received them at the right times. Staff were trained to administer medicines safely and medicines records were audited to ensure they were of an acceptable standard.

The service provided safe care. Staff were trained in safeguarding (protecting people from abuse) and knew how to keep people safe. Staff provided people with the care and support they required and encouraged them and their relatives to be an active part of the care planning process.

Care plans and risk assessments were personalised; people’s relatives told us they were involved in helping their relatives make decisions about their care and had access to their care plans.

The provider’s recruitment procedure, which helped to ensure the staff employed were safe to work with the people using the service, had been followed.

Staff ensured people were having enough to eat and drink and treated people with dignity and respect.

The provider’s complaints procedure had been followed. People who raised concerns had been listened to, told the outcome of their complaint and what was being done to improve the service in response.

The provider and registered manager carried out audits of all aspects of the service to ensure it was well-led. People and their relatives were encouraged to provide their views and opinions of the service. Statutory notifications were submitted to the CQC when required and these showed that the staff had taken appropriate action to safeguard people when incidents had occurred.