Mary Ruth Care

Updated 15 November 2022

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 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 and ended on 1 November 2022. We visited the location’s office and made telephone calls to people and their relatives on 1 November 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since they registered with CQC. We sought feedback from the local authority, Healthwatch and professionals who work with the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. 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 over the telephone with 2 people who used the service and 7 relatives. We emailed 12 staff to ask a range of questions and received feedback from 8 staff. We spoke with 2 care staff in person, the care coordinator, the office administrator and the director/field manager of the service. We visited the office location to review written records. We looked at 3 people's care records. We checked records relating to the management of the service including staff files, policies and procedures and quality assurance records.

Updated 15 November 2022

Mary Ruth Care is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care. The agency office is based in South Sheffield. Support is currently provided to people living in their own homes in South Sheffield. At the time of this inspection the service was supporting 27 people with personal care. 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

People felt safe in the company of staff. Relatives agreed their family members were safe. People consistently told us staff arrived on time and they received support from the same core group of staff, which promoted good continuity of care. The provider had recruitment processes in place to ensure suitable staff were employed. Medicines were managed effectively, and the provider ensured all infection control measures were followed by staff.

There were systems and processes in place to minimise risks to people. These included making sure staff knew how to recognise and report abuse. People’s care plans contained details of risks posed to people, with guidance for staff about any actions they need to take to mitigate those risks.

We have made a recommendation about the risk assessments for some people. The provider has already acted to meet this recommendation.

People told us any concerns were addressed immediately with appropriate actions. The service was well run, and people who used the service were very happy with the care and support they received. Audits and checks of documents and systems helped ensure continuous learning and improvement.

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 good (report published 1 January 2019). The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about medicines and staffing.

As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Mary Ruth Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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