Careline Homecare Darlington

Updated 16 January 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 two 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

Careline Homecare Darlington 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 large service operating during the COVID-19 pandemic 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 26 November 2020 and ended on 11 December 2020. We visited the office location on 26 November 2020.

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 the regional manager, the registered manager, two care coordinators and 14 care staff. We telephoned and spoke with 16 people who used the service or their relatives.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and several medicines records, four staff files and a variety of management and quality assurance records for the service.

Updated 16 January 2021

About the service

Careline Homecare Darlington is a domiciliary care agency which provides care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 162 people using the service.

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

People expressed confidence in the care they received, and in the abilities, attitude and competency of their care staff. However, nearly every respondent noted, over the last few months, the timekeeping and punctuality of the carers had deteriorated significantly. Many noted this was in contrast with their earlier experiences of the service when they had found it to be very reliable.

The registered manager discussed how the pressures of the second wave of the pandemic had significantly impacted staff and the service performance. Following the inspection, the registered manager wrote to all the people and relatives to apologise for the reduction in service and explain the circumstances.

A large proportion of the staff discussed the pressures they had faced in recent months because of volumes of additional calls being added to their rota. Staff reported they were finding at times they could not get breaks during sometimes 14-hour shifts. The registered manager outlined how pressures on the service had increased over the last few months, as there had been increased levels of sickness and the need for staff to self-isolate. Work was being undertaken to recruit additional staff and review rotas.

We found co-ordinators and supervisors had systems in place to schedule calls and monitor attendance at calls. Two care coordinators covered different areas in Darlington, and they had their own staff team. Staff discussed how they did not get travel time and this had impacted service delivery. People were not always made aware of changes to the times that staff would be visiting. The registered manager confirmed they would ensure rotas were reviewed and travel time would be introduced.

Every staff member was committed to assisting people to have a good quality of life and all available staff had pulled together to cover all the care packages.

Medicines were administered in a safe manner. Systems were in place, which monitored how the service operated and ensured staff delivered appropriate care and treatment.

Staff took steps to safeguard people and promote their human rights. Incidents were dealt with appropriately and lessons were learnt, which helped to keep people safe. When necessary, external professionals were involved in individual people’s care.

Appropriate checks were completed prior to staff being employed to work at the service.

The senior management team completed comprehensive audits of the service and constantly looked for areas for improvement.

For more details, please see the full report which is on CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (report published 30 March 2018).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection and completed in line with our current programme. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Responsive and Well-led.

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 improved 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 Careline Homecare Darlington on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.