We carried out a review of the data available to us about Bucks Country Home Care Limited 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 Bucks Country Home Care Limited, you can give feedback on this service.
Bucks Country Home Care Limited is registered to provide 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 the inspection the service supported 54 people across rural Buckinghamshire.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People and their relatives gave us positive feedback about the care and support received. Comments included, “Always polite, caring and professional” and “The carers that come to the house, all provide outstanding, compassionate care calls”.
At the last inspection we found people were not routinely supported with their prescribed medicines in a safe manner, systems in place to manage medicines were not effective. Since the last inspection improvements have been made and we found people received their medicines when needed. This was corroborated by a relative who told us “The carers administer his medication professionally at the appropriate times.” We have identified the service would benefit from further improvements in records relating to medicines prescribed for occasional use. The registered manager is aware and has plans in place to ensure this is completed.
People who were at risk of potential harm as a result of their medical conditions, environment, or ability to move had risk assessments in place. However, we found some risk assessments could have provided more detail to staff on how to mitigate harm. We have made a recommendation about risk management records.
People were supported by staff who had been recruited safely, had received support and training for their role. Staff had their competency checked to ensure they had the right skills and knowledge to work with people.
The provider ensured staff and people were protected from the risk of infections. Staff had access to good supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), and people confirmed this was used on a regular basis. Additional infection control training had been provided following the Covid- 19 outbreak.
People and their relatives told us they found the service responsive to their needs. They commented they received a good service and knew who to contact about their care needs. Comments included, “Taking into consideration this unprecedented year of Covid-19, this service has been excellent” and “The office in Longwick is adept at changing the programme at short notice if I have to ask them to do so.” Another person told us “Someone is always available via telephone.” A relative told us they were “Very pleased with all that they do, very reliable always very helpful.”
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 22 November 2019).
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 22 and 25 October 2019. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment in respect of medicine management.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bucks Country Home Care Limited 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.
Bucks Country Home Care Limited is registered to provide 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 the inspection the service supported 38 people across rural Buckinghamshire.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were not always protected from unsafe medicine management. The service did not fully comply with national guidelines regarding records relating to medicines. Some people were supported with the administration of their prescribed medicines without any medicine administration records being in place. Records did not routinely show why prescribed medicines had not been administered.
People’s care plans showed their likes and dislikes and how they wished to be supported. However, they did not routinely show if any discussions had been held about their end of life care wishes. We have made a recommendation about this in the report.
People were supported by care workers who demonstrated they were kind, compassionate and promoted people’s dignity. Comments from people and their relatives included “They respect my privacy at all times” and “They have a very difficult job and they’re always very cheerful.”
People were complimentary about the support provided. People told us “I would not change agency at all, as they are perfect as far as I am concerned,” “The staff are so kind and caring” and “I can’t fault anything.”
People were supported by staff who had been recruited safely to ensure they had the right skills and attributes. Staff were provided with training to keep their knowledge up to date.
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 told us the service was well-led. The provider had clear values which were communicated to staff. People told us “I think the service is well managed as I have no complaints” and “They do a fantastic job.”
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 2 May 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.
This was the first inspection since the provider registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide personal care to people. The services supported people who lived in their own homes in the North Buckinghamshire area. The registered office is based in the village of Longwick. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 25 people.
The service had a registered manager in post. 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.
We received positive feedback from people who were supported by the service. Comments from people included “They are fabulous I trust them with my life,” “They're wonderful we've been very satisfied regular same two staff ladies” and “It’s been fantastic quality people thoroughly professional kept up to date we have regular carers.”
People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm as care workers were aware of how to recognise abuse and what to do if a concern was raised.
Care workers felt supported and had access to training to ensure they provided effective care. People told us they felt the care workers were well trained. One person told us “They are well trained they seem to know what they're doing I'd recommend them.”
People were involved in their care, and the registered manager tried to drive improvements through seeking feedback from people. However other systems in place to monitor the effectiveness of the service did not always pick up where improvements could be made. We have made a recommendation about this in the report.
People told us care workers were respectful when providing care. Care workers were aware of how to provide a dignified service. People told us “Yes they respect my privacy and dignity, if I'm getting washed they close the curtain and keep me covered and ask permission to do things” and “
“If they are helping me with personal care and someone comes to the door the ask them to come back later in twenty minutes. They always keep me covered.”
People were supported by care workers that had been recruited in a safe way. Care workers had support through a robust induction process.
People told us the care plan was personalised and reflected their current needs. They told us the care plans were regularly reviewed to ensure they were kept up to date. People told us they were involved in the review meetings and felt they were able to contribute to assessments and planning of their care. One person told us “Any changes are made once a month and the big review is once a year.”