Willow Home Care Ltd

Updated 30 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector 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.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced.

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we wanted to make sure the registered manager would be on site to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 19 October 2022 and ended on 26 October 2022. We visited the location’s office on 24 and 26 October 2022.

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.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 13 people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with one care staff, a care coordinator, the director and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found.

Updated 30 November 2022

About the service

Willow Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, the service was providing personal care support to 42 people.

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

At our previous inspection in June 2021, the provider was in breach of regulation 12, Safe care and treatment and regulation 17, Good governance. At this inspection we found significant improvements. However, the provider remained in breach of these regulations.

Right Support

People raised concerns about late and missed calls. People were placed at risk of avoidable infection because staff did not always apply good practices with regards to infection, prevention and control.

Right Care

During the course of the inspection we identified staff did not have access to detailed risk assessments and the registered manager addressed this immediately. People told us they felt safe whilst receiving a service. All staff had received safeguarding training and were equipped with the skills and knowledge to recognise abuse and to protect people from this. People told us staff were kind, friendly and caring.

Right culture

The provider’s governance was not effective to identify the shortfalls found at this inspection. People were involved in staff recruitment to enable them to choose who worked with them. People were cared for by staff who had been recruited safely to ensure they were suitable to work in their homes.

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. The provider had recently appointed a new manager who was enthusiastic in developing the service and to be compliant with the regulations ensuring people receive a safe and effective service. Staff had access to supervisions and meetings to keep them abreast of changes to the service. The provider worked with other agencies to provide a specific service for the individual.

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.

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 20 August 2021). 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 the provider remained in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection. 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 remained requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

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

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to risk management and late and missed calls which, had an impact with regards to people’s care and support.

Follow up

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