AMG Nursing and Care Services - Burton

Updated 19 October 2019

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who has used this type of 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.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we wanted to be sure there would be people available to speak with us.

The inspection activity started on 14 August 2019 and ended on 16 August 2019. We visited the office location on 14 August 2019.

What we did before the inspection

Our planning considered information we held about the service. This included information about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse allegations. We looked at records of complaints and how the service responded to them.

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. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During this inspection we visited three people who used the service, with their permission, in their own homes and looked at the records they kept at home. We spoke on the telephone to 20 people,16 relatives and six people who used the service to ask about their experience of the service and the care provided. We spoke with three care staff for their experiences of working for this service.

We also spoke with the registered manager, the quality manager and a care coordinator. We looked at eight care records and a selection of other records including quality monitoring records, training records and recruitment records for new staff.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to corroborate what we found. This included confirmation of the training staff had completed and further information three about incidents raised by people we spoke with who used the service. This was received and the information was used as part of our inspection.

Updated 19 October 2019

About the service

AMG Nursing and Care Services - Burton is a domiciliary care agency providing personal and nursing care to adults and children living in their own homes with complex health needs, people coming to the end of their life and a 'fast track,' and short term service supporting people to leave hospital or remain at home when unwell.

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. When we inspected the service there were 109 people receiving the regulated activity.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Staff were given training on good practice in end of life care to help them understand and support people in a sensitive way. Care plan records were not always consistently completed for supporting people with end of life care.

We have made a recommendation about advanced care planning records being consistently completed.

People and their relatives were aware of how to raise concerns or complaints. Many were very satisfied with the management of complaints. A small number felt their concerns were not always taken seriously.

People told us they mainly received support from a regular team of staff. They told us they felt they received care in a safe way, from staff who were “friendly” and “polite” and their privacy and dignity was respected

The management team understood the duty of candour and the requirement to notify us of any significant incidents at the service. The service had systems to assess quality and people were asked for their views about the support they received.

People’s needs and choices were assessed and planned for. Individual risks to people and the environment had been identified and assessed and measures put in place to manage them and minimise the risk of avoidable harm occurring.

The provider had procedures in place to guide staff on safeguarding vulnerable adults and children. These were in line with local authority procedures.

Recruitment procedures were in place to help make sure that the care workers recruited were suitable. Staff had received appropriate training, induction and development to carry out their work and support people safely.

The provider had policies and procedures to guide staff to administer medicines safely. Staff also helped people be as independent as they were able with taking their medicines

People received support to maintain good nutrition and hydration and their healthcare needs were understood and met. The staff identified if people were unwell, supported them and contacted health professionals.

Staff were supplied with personal protective equipment for use to prevent the spread of infections and had received training in infection control and food hygiene.

The registered provider had procedures in place for assessing a person's mental capacity in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. 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.

Staff assessed and reviewed people's physical, mental health and social needs. People's social and emotional needs were considered as part of their support and social isolation was recognised as an issue for some people.

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 23 March 2017)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for AMG Nursing and Care Services - Burton on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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.