QCM Healthcare

Updated 15 December 2022

TThe 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 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 8 November 2022 and ended on 16 November 2022. We visited the location’s office/service on 9 November 2022.

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. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the office visit we spoke with the provider who is also the registered manager. We spoke with the deputy, administrator, a care team leader and a member of care staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s support plans and 1 person’s Medication Administration Record [MAR]. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment, training and supervision. We looked at a sample of the service’s quality assurance systems including medicine and care plan audits.

Following the office visit, the registered manager sent us additional information that we had asked for. We had email contact with 3 staff members and phone contact with 1 person and 2 relatives to obtain their feedback of their experience of using the service.

Updated 15 December 2022

QCM Healthcare is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 3 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person, nor had they done so since being registered. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, where possible, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

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

People and their representatives told us there was a core of well-trained and skilled staff who knew them well and met their needs. The registered manager supported staff with less experience to develop their skills. However, systems were not in place to assess or review whether staff had gained the skills and knowledge to effectively care for people.

Care plans varied in quality and detail, in particular when support was arranged at short notice. In these instances, senior staff ensured information about peoples’ needs was shared verbally across the staff team. Although this mitigated the potential for risk, improvements were needed to ensure staff had personalised written guidance about all the people’s needs.

The registered manager had worked hard to address the concerns we had raised at the last inspection. They had implemented new systems to support senior staff sustain improvements as the service grew. Some of these systems still needed to be embedded into the service. However, the registered manager understood their service well and was committed to continuing to develop and improve quality of the service.

Recruitment and induction processes had improved, which supported the registered manager to provide safe care. There were enough staff to support people safely. The staff team were well supported, supervised and engaged.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome.

Staff worked well with people, their relatives and other professionals to maintain their health and wellbeing. Staff provided key support to people requiring end of life care, enabling them to continue to be cared for at home.

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs.

Support was flexible and responsive. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate.

Right Support:

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.

Right Care:

People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs.

Right Culture:

People’s quality of life was enhanced by the service’s culture of improvement and openness.

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 (published 14 December 2018) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. There was a delay in us returning to re-inspect as the service was dormant (not supporting people) from August 2019 until April 2022. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.