Our Care Ltd

Updated 24 January 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

The inspection was conducted by an 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.

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 15 December 2023 and ended on 8 January 2024. We visited the location’s office on 15 December 2023.

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 and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people and 2 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 3 staff members. We also spoke with the registered manager who was also the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We reviewed a range of records, these included 5 people’s care records, medicines administration records, as well as governance and quality assurance records. We also looked at 1 staff recruitment file.

Updated 24 January 2024

About the service

Our Care Ltd is a domiciliary care service providing personal care. The service provides support to older people, some of whom are living with dementia or have mental health needs. The service also supports younger adults, people with sensory impairment and people with physical disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were 12 people using the service.

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

Although improvements to governance systems had been made, further action was needed to ensure they were fully embedded and provided a comprehensive view of the service. People, relatives, and staff spoke positively about the management of the service. Staff worked in partnership with other professionals to meet people’s needs.

We have made a recommendation about governance processes.

People felt safe when receiving care. Improvements had been made to medicines management and the management of people’s risks. Records reflected how people’s risks should be managed and staff were aware of how to support people safely. Learning had taken place since the last inspection and staff followed infection control guidance to protect people from the risk of cross infection.

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 12 January 2023). The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last 3 consecutive inspections.

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 regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 27 October 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were 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 and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they 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 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 remain requires improvement. 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 Our Care Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have made a recommendation about governance processes in the well-led section of this report.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.