Archived: MSS Care

Updated 28 September 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

This inspection took place on 23, 24 and 30 August 2016 and was announced in accordance with the commission’s current procedures for the inspection of domiciliary care agencies. The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.

The service was previously inspected on 1 August 2014 when it was found to be fully compliant with the regulations. Prior to the inspection we reviewed the Provider Information Record (PIR) and previous inspection reports. The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed the information we held about the service and notifications we had received. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. In addition before the inspection we sent 50 surveys to people who used the service. We received 26 completed responses.

During the inspection we spoke with the nine people who used the service, three people’s relatives, six members of care staff and the registered manager. We also inspected a range of records. These included four care plans, five staff files, training records, staff duty rotas, meeting minutes and the services policies and procedures.

Updated 28 September 2016

MSS Care provides personal care to approximately 70 people who live in their own homes on the lizard and in the south of Cornwall. On the day of our inspection the service employed a total of 43 staff.

This comprehensive inspection took place on 23, 24 and 30 August 2016 and was announced in accordance with our current methodology for domiciliary care inspections. The service was last inspected on 1 August 2014 when it was fully complaint with the regulations.

The service had 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 in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Everyone who responded to our survey reported they felt safe while receiving care and support and reported that staff always respected their privacy and dignity. People told us, “The carers are very very good”, “The staff are extremely pleasant” and “I’d give them 10 out of 10, they are such a help to me it is unbelievable.”

Visit schedules included appropriate amounts of travel time between consecutive visits. Call monitoring data and daily care records showed that staff normally arrived on time and provided visits of the planned duration. People said, “They do have enough time”, “They do not rush, they have time to chat” and “They are normally on time but you can’t plan for the traffic around here.”

The service used a mobile phone based call monitoring system to ensure all planned care visits were provided each day. This information was monitored by office staff in real time and an alarm system was used to alert office staff if a carer failed to provide their first planned visit each day. People told us, “They never let you down, they always turn up” while staff said, “I don’t know of any missed calls.”

The service operated safe recruitment practices and all staff understood their role in protecting people from abuse and avoidable harm. The service’s safeguarding policy accurately reflected local procedures and had been regularly updated.

All staff received three days of formal induction training when they joined the service. Staff records showed this training was regularly refreshed and appropriate additional training was provided to ensure staff remained sufficiently skilled to meet people individual needs. Staff told us, “The induction was good and well organised” and “They are very hot on training.”

Staff were well supported by their managers and regularly received supervision, spot checks and annual performance appraisals. The service operated an effective on call manager system to provide staff with any necessary guidance outside of office hours. Staff told us, “They [managers] are brilliant actually” and “I can always ask for help from [the registered manager] or [care manager].” The registered manager said, “I do have a lot of confidence in the staff” and “I am really proud of my staff, the way they go the extra mile for the clients. They really do care.”

Care plans were detailed and informative. They provided staff with sufficient guidance to ensure People’s specific care needs were met during each planned visit. Staff told us people’s care plans were; “quite detailed”, “all kept up to date and they are informative” and, “they are actually very helpful.” Risks had been appropriately assessed and staff provided with guidance on how to protect people and themselves from each identified risk.

People and staff were actively encouraged to report accidents, incidents, near misses and compliments via the provider’s safety observation system (SOS). All reported incidents were fully investigated by managers to identify any learning or areas of possible improvement. People understood the service’s complaints procedures and records showed all complaints received had been investigated and appropriately resolved.

The service’s secure information sharing system based on mobile phones allowed staff to effectively share information about changes to people’s care needs with office staff and other carers. This meant prompt action could be taken to address any significant incidents or changes to care needs.