AMG Nursing and Care Services - Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent

Updated 21 March 2023

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 carried out by 2 inspectors 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 homes.

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 not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been in post for 6 months and had applied to register. We are currently assessing this application.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. We visited the office location on 15 February 2023. The Expert by Experience made phone calls to people and relatives on 16 February 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

During the inspection we spoke with 3 people who received a service, and 6 relatives. We spoke to 15 staff members, including the registered manager, the deputy manager, the quality manager, nursing staff and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 5 people's care and medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. In addition, we reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and policies and procedures.

Updated 21 March 2023

About the service

AMG Nursing and Care Services (Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent) is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people 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 inspection, 45 people were receiving a regulated service, the majority of people were receiving longer care calls, with some receiving 24-hour support.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

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

Right Support:

People were supported to be involved in their care and to manage their own risks. However, we have made a recommendation to the provider to review the documentation and recording of people’s pain management.

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 supported by trained staff. People told us staff arrived on time and stayed for the designated duration of time.

Staff supported people with their medicines safely. Robust quality audits ensured people’s medicines were monitored and reviewed in a timely manner.

Right Care:

Staff understood how to protect people from abuse. The provider worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff received safeguarding training and they told us how they would report any concerns to their manager.

The provider had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. Staff had been recruited safely and all relevant pre-employment checks had been undertaken.

People’s care plans reflected their range of support requirements. Staff knew people well and could tell us about people’s preferences and how these could be met safely.

Right Culture:

People’s quality of life was enhanced by the provider’s culture of improvement and inclusivity. People could choose to be involved in the recruitment process, ensuring they could express their opinions and choices regarding the staff who would be supporting them.

Each person was supported by a team of staff who regularly engaged in person specific team meetings to discuss the care and support required. People and relatives were invited to attend the meetings.

The provider evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate. People, relatives and staff received questionnaires in order to provide feedback on the care and support provided.

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 09 January 2020)

Why we inspected

We received concerns relating to training of staff, care planning and incident recording. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

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 not changed. The service remains good based on the findings of this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.