Agincare UK Newcastle under Lyme

Updated 28 March 2020

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 two inspectors at the site and one assistant inspector to make telephone calls to people who used the service and their relatives.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 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.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the, manager, senior care workers, and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included seven 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 provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 28 March 2020

About the service

Agincare UK Newcastle-under-Lyme is a domiciliary care agency. It is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes in and around Newcastle-under-Lyme. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is related to help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection, 65 people were receiving personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We made a recommendation about the safe recording and management of some medicines.

People’s risks were assessed, however, people’s records needed to ensure staff had effective guidance to support people’s wider health needs, such as diabetes.

The systems in place to monitor the quality of the service did not always highlight areas of improvement. The manager and provider were continuously working to implement new and effective systems.

People were supported by safely recruited staff, who had the skills to provide effective care. People received support from regular staff who knew them well and were protected from risk of infection. People felt safe and were protected from the risk of harm by staff who understood their responsibilities to identify and report signs of potential abuse.

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 and their relatives were involved in planning and reviewing their care. The manager had commenced obtaining people’s verbal feedback which demonstrated people were happy with the care provided.

There was an open culture within the service, and complaints were acted upon and improvements were being made. People and staff could approach the manager who acted on concerns raised to ensure the service developed.

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 (04 September 2019) and there were multiple breaches of regulations. 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 regulations. However, the changes need to be fully embedded in order to ensure the improvements will continue. Therefore, we require the provider to continue to submit their monthly action plan.

The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last four consecutive inspections.

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.