Archived: Mercie Grace Care

Updated 19 June 2021

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

This 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

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.

Inspection activity started on 18 May 2021 and ended on 21 May 2021. We visited the office location on 18 May 2021 and made telephone calls to people and relatives on 18 and 21 May 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service and we sought feedback from the local authority. The provider was not asked to send in a 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 took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and eight relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three care staff members, the registered manager and the care manager.

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

Updated 19 June 2021

About the service

Mercie Grace Care is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of inspection, 45 people were using the service .

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

Medicine Administration Records (MAR) were not always fully completed, and body maps did not always show where certain medicines were applied.

Risks to people’s safety were not always assessed and details around the care they required had not always been documented.

Care plans contained some information about people’s individual needs, preferences and routines, but more detail was required.

The provider did not always notify CQC of events they were required to by law.

Audits taking place in the service were inconsistent, and did not always identify the lack of information being recorded by staff, or prompt appropriate action.

Safe recruitment practices were followed. Appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out

People received safe care and were protected against avoidable harm, abuse, neglect and discrimination.

People told us they were treated with kindness, compassion and respect. Staff encouraged people to maintain their independence and do as much for themselves as they were able to.

The registered manager and provider understood their responsibilities and worked in an open and transparent way.

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 22 May 2019)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the safety of people using the service, staff recruitment procedures, and oversight. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

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.