We carried out a review of the data available to us about Kingfisher Care (Midlands) Ltd on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Kingfisher Care (Midlands) Ltd, you can give feedback on this service.
Kingfisher Care (Midlands) Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes in the community.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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 49 people were being supported with personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People benefitted from an outstanding well-led service, which placed people at the heart of everything they did. The registered manager and operational manager led by example and ensured staff shared their ethos of providing good quality care.
People told us how good the service was and how much their lives had improved since Kingfisher Care had come into their lives. One comment we read was, ‘Thank you for your excellent care and attention.’
Kingfisher Care (Midlands) Limited strived continuously to improve people’s care and life experience liaising with health professionals and other organisations in the area. Proactively responding to people’s physical and mental health well-being.
There were effective systems in place to manage the quality of the service and drive improvements. People’s feedback was sought and acted upon and staff were valued and proud they worked for the company.
People were cared for safely and could be assured that staff had been checked for their suitability to work with them. People’s medicines were administered safely, and people could rely on them being given at the times they needed them.
People were treated as individuals and were valued and respected. Staff ensured people’s privacy and dignity was protected and spent time getting to know people. People described staff as caring with a good attitude. One person said, “Staff are cheerful and smiley and never rush me.”
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 were well motivated and managed. People could be assured they were cared for by staff who had the training, skills and knowledge to provide effective and safe care.
People and staff were confident if they had a complaint they would be listened to and action taken to address the issue. The registered manager was open and honest and welcomed ideas to develop and improve the service.
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 28 March 2017)
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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.
Kingfisher Care (Midlands) Ltd is a home care agency supporting people who live in their own homes in the Leicester and Leicestershire. At the time of our inspection 21 people used the service.
The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People who used the service were safe when they received care and support. The provider had a recruitment procedure that ensured as far as possible that only staff suited to support people who used the service were employed.
People’s care plans included risk assessments of activities associated with their personal care routines. The risk assessments provided information for care workers that enabled them to support people safely but without restricting people’s independence.
Enough suitably skilled and knowledgeable staff were deployed to meet the needs of the people who used the service. This meant that home care visits were consistently made at times that people expected. Staff arranging home care visits were skilled and knowledgeable about people’s needs and ensured that people were supported by care workers with the right skills and knowledge.
People were supported to take their medicines at the right times. On an occasion that had not happened the provider took action to ensure the person was safe.
People were cared for and supported by care workers who had the appropriate training and support to understand their needs. People who used the service and their relatives spoke about staff in consistently complimentary and positive terms. Staff were supported through supervision, appraisal and training. Staff valued the support that they received.
The registered manager understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2015. People were presumed to have mental capacity to make decisions about their care and support unless there was evidence to the contrary. Assessments of people’s mental capacity were made but had not been recorded using suitable assessment forms. The registered manager attended to this after we brought it to their attention. Staff had awareness of the MCA. They understood they could provide care and support only if a person consented to it.
Care workers either prepared meals for people or supported people to make their meals.
Care workers received training to help them understand about medical conditions people lived with. They supported people to attend healthcare appointments and to access health services when they needed them.
Care workers were caring and knowledgeable about people’s needs. People were consistently supported by the same care workers. The registered manager `matched’ care workers with people who used the service which supported them to build caring relationships.
People who used the service were involved in decisions about their care and support. They received the information they needed about the service and about their care and support. People told us they were always treated with dignity and respect.
People contributed to the assessment of their needs and to reviews of their care plans. People’s care plans were centred on their individual needs. People knew how to raise concerns if they felt they had to and they were confident they would be taken seriously by the provider.
The registered manager and care workers were well regarded by people who used the service and their relatives.
The provider had effective arrangements for monitoring the quality of the service. These arrangements placed a high value to people’s feedback which was acted upon. The quality assurance procedures were used to continually improve people’s experience of the service.