Connections Care Ltd

Updated 23 February 2024

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was conducted by 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.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and sheltered accommodation.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 19 December 2023 and ended on 9 January 2024. We visited the location’s office on 19 December 2023.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service including information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law. We requested feedback from other stakeholders. These included the local authorities safeguarding teams, commissioning teams and Healthwatch Leeds. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who used the service and 8 relatives of people using the service. We spoke with 7 staff members; this included care workers, senior care worker, the care coordinator, and the registered manager.

We looked at care records for 4 people using the service including medicine administration records. We looked at training, recruitment, and supervision records for staff. We also reviewed various policies and procedures and the quality assurance and monitoring systems of the service.

Updated 23 February 2024

About the service

Connections Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults living in their own home. During our inspection visit, the service was caring for 56 people. 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 were overwhelmingly positive about staff and told us the service provided safe care. However, during this inspection, we found some aspects of the service were not always safe or well managed.

Medicines were not always managed safely. We found some risks to people’s care had not been assessed and the provider had not kept an appropriate oversight that equipment used by staff to move people had passed the required safety checks. These areas were discussed during the inspection, and immediate action taken. There was a safeguarding procedure in place, staff had received training and were aware of signs of abuse and what action to take. Infection and prevention measures were in place to ensure people and staff were safe. Recruitment was mostly managed safely but gaps in employment were not consistently explored.

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. However, we found the provider was not recording relevant discussions and decisions about the care of people who lacked capacity to make decisions.

Quality assurance measures in place had not always been effective in identifying or addressing the issues found during this inspection. We found records were not always detailed or complete and management oversight had not always been robust in ensuring the service was always safe.

We received positive feedback about the management team being approachable and responsive. People using the service and their relatives told us about the positive impact that the service had on their lives and told us they would recommend the service. During this inspection, the provider was receptive to the inspection’s findings and acted on the issues identified or told us the actions they would take.

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 on 23 August 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to how consent was recorded, safe care of people and management of the service at this inspection.

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 standards 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.