Background to this inspection
Updated
1 March 2023
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
The inspection team consisted of 1 inspector and 1 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.
Registered Manager
This service 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 2 days’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 28 November 2022 and ended on 18 January 2023. We visited the location’s office/service on 2 December 2022.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with 5 people who used the service and 8 relatives. We spoke with 4 staff including the registered manager and 3 care staff. We looked at a range of management records including medicines, quality audits and staff recruitment. We reviewed 5 people’s care records including risk assessments and 7 staff recruitment records. After the site visit, we continued to liaise with the service. The registered manager sent us documentation we asked for and clarified any queries we had.
Updated
1 March 2023
About the service
Unique Personnel (UK) Limited – Newham Branch is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to children and adults in their own homes. 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. At the time of this inspection, 40 people were using the service.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were protected from abuse and poor care. People using the service felt safe with staff and relatives confirmed this was the case. Staff knew how to report concerns of abuse. People had risk assessments in place. There were enough staff at the service to meet people’s needs and the provider had a system to monitor late or missed calls. Medicines were managed safely, and people were protected from risks associated with the spread of infection. There was a system in place to record accidents and incidents.
Care plans were person-centred and staff knew how to deliver personalised care. Where appropriate, people were supported with activities, and to meet their cultural and spiritual needs. People and their relatives knew how to make a complaint and felt these would be appropriately resolved. Care records documented end of life care wishes so this type of care could be provided when needed.
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. People were encouraged to make choices and decisions in a way that met their communication needs.
People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the leadership in the service. Managers and staff understood their role and responsibilities. Staff had regular meetings including small group supervisions so important messages and changes could be shared. People and staff were asked for feedback about the quality of the service so improvements could be identified. The registered manager carried out quality checks in the service so that issues could be identified. The provider worked jointly with other agencies to improve outcomes for people.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 29 August 2019) and there was a breach of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation.
At our last inspection we made recommendations about the management of complaints and staff meetings. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on this and improvements had been made.
Why we inspected
We carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service on 27 June 2019. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment.
We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions, Safe, Responsive and Well-led which contain those requirements. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Unique Personnel (UK) Limited – Newham Branch on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.