Archived: Blakehill Healthcare Limited

Updated 29 November 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection took place on 8, 9, 15 and 16 August 2017 and was announced. We gave notice of our inspection to ensure key people would be available at the service when we visited. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Prior to the inspection we looked at the information we held about the service. This information included the statutory notifications that the provider had sent to CQC. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We had not requested the provider to complete the Provider Information Record (PIR) before the inspection. This is a form that asks the provider to give information about the service, tells us what the service does well and the improvements they plan to make.

We looked at the care records of three people, the recruitment and personnel records of staff, training records, staff schedules and other records relating to the management of the service. We looked at a range of policies and procedures including, safeguarding, whistleblowing, recruitment, mental capacity and complaints.

We spoke with two people on the phone that were supported by the service and two relatives. We tried to contact a further two people by phone but were not successful. We spoke with four care staff, the registered manager and the nominated individual. We tried to speak to a further eight staff by phone but were not successful.

Five health and social care professionals were contacted in order to gain their views about the service. Three of them provided feedback about the service.

Updated 29 November 2017

The inspection took place on 8, 9, 15 and 16 August 2017 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. We did this to ensure key staff would be available at the service. This was the service’s first inspection and rating.

At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 15 people living in their own homes.

There was 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 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

We found a number of breaches of the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.

People were not always protected against the risks of neglect associated with missed visits and late visits. The system used to monitor this was not safe.

Staff were not provided with the appropriate training to help them meet the needs of people who used the service. We could not be certain that the manual handling techniques used for providing care or treatment to people were effective. Staff’s ongoing competence in using manual techniques and equipment had not been assessed by a trained person assessed as competent.

We found that the service had systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of service. However, they were not always effective. We identified areas that require improvement, which were not picked up by the quality assurance processes.

Staff were knowledgeable about recognising the signs of abuse. All staff had received training in safeguarding adults.

Medicines were administered to people safely by staff that had been trained.

The registered manager carried out pre-employment checks on staff before they worked with people to assess their suitability.

The service was meeting the requirements of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. Staff had received appropriate training, and had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

Staff received induction and training. Staff had supervision meetings which were held to support them in their role.

People were involved in planning their own care. They had been consulted to ensure their care records reflected their own views and opinions. Care records were reviewed with people and they had also been provided with sufficient information about the service.

People were happy with the care they received and felt the staff were caring. Staff we spoke with demonstrated they were aware of people’s individual needs and understood their preferences.