24 November 2021
During a routine inspection
Provision Care Limited in Leicester, provides care and support for people in their own homes. The service was supporting 8 people at the time of the inspection. 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
There were systems in place to monitor incidents, accidents and safeguarding concerns and staff understood how to report these. Individualised risk assessments were in place, but they lacked detail to ensure safe care. The provider did not carry out safe pre-employment checks in line with organisational policy. Topical medications (creams) and ‘when required’ medicines were not managed safely, and the provider could not evidence staff had been assessed as competent to administer medications.
Support plans were in place but lacked detail on people’s needs. Staff were provided with training, but some training needs had not been identified. People were supported to make their own food and drink choices. There was evidence the provider worked collaboratively with external professionals, but feedback from professionals was mixed.
The provider responded to the views and wishes of people using the service, and feedback from relatives was positive. One relative said, “We’d like to say a big thank you, can’t praise them enough”. Staff told us they protect people’s dignity and they were knowledgeable about the people they support and how to promote independence.
The provider was responsive to people’s changing needs. However, complaints were not recorded, and the registered manager lacked knowledge on their responsibilities in this area. Support plans were found to be lacking information related to end of life care.
Management frequently visited people and delivered care. Staff told us management were approachable and supportive. There was a lack of robust and effective quality assurance processes in place to monitor the quality of the service. Organisational policies were not robust or tailored to the service and the training matrix was not fit for purpose.
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; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
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 14 November 2017)
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We have identified breaches of regulation in relation to medicines, pre-employment checks, support planning and quality assurance systems 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 for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.