About the service Arbour Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care 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 the inspection 29 people were receiving personal care for 24 hours per day who had complex and multiple needs.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Some support plans lacked details and were not always up to date. People did not always have relevant risk assessments in place.
Staff knew people well, however, the details that staff were knowledgeable about were not always documented in the care plans. Records were not always accurate or up to date and audits were not always robust at identifying the shortfalls in records.
Some improvements had been made to medicine administration practises and policies since the last inspection.
People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not always support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not always support this practice. Some of the discrepancies in relation to best interests meetings were rectified immediately in the days following the inspection.
People were supported by caring staff that treated them with respect and dignity.
People told us they felt safe being cared for by staff, and described staff as caring people that they compared to family members. Staff were aware of how to identify different forms of abuse and report any safeguarding concerns.
Arrangements were in place to ensure suitable numbers of staff were in place to meet people’s needs. Safe recruitment practises were in place, as well as regular refresher training and supervisions were available to staff to ensure a standard of training was maintained.
People were kept safe from infection by staff who were regularly trained in the prevention of spread of infection and the provider had an infection control policy in place.
People were supported to make their own choices about their care and be independent. People were supported to pursue their hobbies and interests. Staff sought people’s consent and supported them in a way that met their preferences.
Accidents and incidents were recorded and any learning from lessons were shared with staff.
Health care professionals were involved in people’s care. The registered manager involved staff, people and other stake holders in service development. Staff stated they felt supported by the registered manager and the provider.
The service is in breach of Regulation 17 of The Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in relation to governance.
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 28 September 2018) and there was a breach of regulation 12. 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 12. However, at this inspection the provider was found to be in breach of regulation 17.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.