The Care Quality Commission
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  • Homecare service

The Robert Atkinson Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Thorntree Road, Stockton-on-tees, TS17 8AP 07875 603898

Provided and run by:
Thumhara Centre

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

The Robert Atkinson is registered to provide personal care to individuals living in their own homes and they primarily offer services to older people. 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. The service was specifically set up to deliver support for the local BME communities. At the time of the inspection 24 people were using the service who received personal care. We carried out an onsite and offsite assessment. Activity started on 9 July and ended on 5 September 2024. We gathered information from people using the service, relatives, the provider who is also the registered manager, office staff, care workers and from visiting professionals. We looked at 21 quality statements. At the last inspection appropriate recruitment checks were not followed and the systems in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service were ineffective. Enough improvement had been made at this inspection and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation 12 and 17. The provider had employed a company to assist them improve the governance systems. Immigration service staff had visited the service to check safe recruitment arrangements were in place. The provider had worked with a legal team to ensure they followed sponsorship scheme requirements. Staff understood people's needs and how to manage any presenting risks. The registered manager as a part of their lessons learnt process was reviewing risk assessment to ensure where people had complex needs, staff had very detailed guidance to follow. Staff worked with people to design care packages, which met their needs and were achievable within the set timeframe. Staff sought people’s views about how to support them. Overall staff felt their views were listened to and their well-being was promoted.

4 April 2023

During an inspection looking at part of the service

About the service

The Robert Atkinson Centre is a domiciliary care agency providing support for people in their own homes. The service was supporting 5 people at the time of the inspection.

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

The provider did not ensure staff were recruited safely. Appropriate checks were not completed prior to staff supporting people. This placed people at risk of harm.

The provider did not have effective systems to monitor the safety and quality of the service.

People were happy with the care and support provided. The registered manager ensured people had a regular team of staff. Staff were introduced to people prior to providing support. People told us they looked forward to staff visiting. People and families were involved in assessments.

The provider had systems in place to investigate safeguarding concerns. Staff had completed safeguarding training. Individual and environmental risks were identified and mitigated against. Systems were in place to ensure people would continue to receive support in the event of an emergency.

The registered manager conducted regular visits to gather feedback. The service liaised with healthcare professionals and their information was included in care plans.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 5 January 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the recruitment and management of staff. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Due to the shortfalls found during the inspection the provider was requested to produce an action plan detailing what action and by when that they would address the issues identified.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to safe recruitment and monitoring the safety and quality of the service.

Follow up

We have already requested an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

10 December 2018

During a routine inspection

This inspection took place on 10 December 2018 and was announced. This was an announced inspection to ensure there would be somebody available in the office and so that people could be informed that we wished to contact them for their views.

This was the first time the service had been inspected.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. It provides a service to a wide range of individuals including older people and younger adults. At the time of our inspection nine people were using the service.

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

People were cared for safely by staff who understood safeguarding procedures and knew how to raise any concerns. Individual risks were assessed and plans put in place to minimise them. Accidents and incidents were recorded and monitored to reduce future risk.

The service had only just taken on a package that included the administration of medicine. Procedures and paperwork was in place ready to support the person with their medicines. Staff had been trained in the safe administration of medicines and knew how to ensure they were stored safely.

Staff had access to a wide range of training to ensure they had the necessary skills and knowledge to support people effectively. Specialist training was available to help staff meet the specific needs of the people they supported. People were supported to access healthcare and encouraged to have a healthy diet appropriate to their needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff were passionate about their work and promoted dignity and independence. People who used the service and their relatives were all very happy with the support they received and told us staff were friendly.

Support plans contained very detailed information about people, their likes and dislikes and how best to meet their needs. People were engaged in a variety of activities and supported to access the community they lived in. There was a procedure in place to deal with complaints although none had been received at the time of our inspection.

The service was led by a management team who supported staff well. Feedback was sought from people using the service and staff. A comprehensive system of audits was in place to monitor the quality of the service.