Kcare

Updated 25 April 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of one inspector, an assistant 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:

Kcare is a domiciliary care agency (DCA). The service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. There was 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’. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

This inspection was announced and took place on 5 March 2019. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure the management would be in the office.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed the information, we held about the service and the service provider. The registered provider completed a 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 the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.

We contacted seven people and two relatives to obtain their feedback. We looked at records, which included four people’s care and medicines records. We checked recruitment, training and supervision records for three staff. We looked at a range of records about how the service was managed. We spoke with the registered manager who was present at the office for the first hour and needed to leave due to unforeseen circumstances. We also spoke with the interim manager and two co-ordinators. After the inspection we contacted four external health and social care professionals, including commissioners to obtain their views about the service. We received one response. We also attempted to speak to two more care staff however we were unable to get hold of them.

Updated 25 April 2019

About the service:

Kcare is a domiciliary care agency (DCA) registered to provide personal care to people living in their own houses and flats around Oxford area. It provides a service to both younger and older adults. At the time of the inspection the agency was providing personal care and support to 29 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they felt safe with the staff. There was sufficient number of safely recruited staff. People were supported to have their medicines administered to them in a timely manner and as prescribed. Risks to people’s well-being and environment had been assessed and recorded. The lessons learnt process had not always been effectively followed but there was a positive approach going forward demonstrated by the new interim manager.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff were familiar with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act. People were supported to access health professionals and maintain good diet and nutrition.

People told us they received caring and kind support. Staff respected people’s privacy, dignity and their individual needs, including communication needs. People were supported to be independent and told us they were in control of the support they had.

People told us they received support that met their needs. People knew how to raise any concerns and told us any concerns were promptly addressed. No people received end of life support at the time of our inspection.

There was a registered manager who was the director of the company and also the registered manager for the provider’s two other branches based in surrounding counties. The day to day management was provided by an interim manager and a team of staff. We found the provider and registered manager did not ensure they met all of their regulatory responsibilities. This included the requirement to display the rating and the requirement to inform the Care Quality Commission about reportable occurrences.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (report published 25 July 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was our scheduled, planned inspection based on previous rating.

Follow up:

We will monitor all intelligence received about the service to inform the assessment of the risk profile of the service and to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.

More information is in Detailed Findings below.