Comforting Healthcare

Comforting Healthcare is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes in the Leeds area. At the time of the inspection five people were using the service.

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

People and relatives provided positive feedback about the service. They said it met individual needs and providing high quality and person-centred care. People said staff and management had developed good relationships with them and communicated effectively.

Since the last inspection, improvements had been made to the service’s documentation, to ensure it now met legal requirements. We found care plans were clear and person-centred and provided staff with clear guidance on people’s individual needs. Records of care delivery were accurate and complete. Documents relating to the management of the service such as training records, and risk assessments to work safely during the COVID-19 pandemic were in place.

There was now better oversight of the service with a range of audits and checks being undertaken to help ensure the service was operating to a high standard. We saw there was a commitment to continuous improvement of the service, with management keen to develop the service.

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 6 September 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We undertook this targeted inspection to check whether the requirement action we previously served in relation to Regulation 17(Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met. The overall rating for the service has not changed following this targeted inspection and remains requires improvement.

CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on breaches or to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.

The overall rating for the service has not changed following this targeted inspection and remains requires improvement.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information.

Comforting Healthcare is a domiciliary care agency and provides care and support to people living in their own homes. Not everyone using the service receives a regulated activity; The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene, medicines and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection 12 people received the regulated activity 'personal care'.

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

Governance and performance management systems were not always effective. Surveys were used to engage with people, however, the information gathered was not analysed to make improvements to the service. The quality of information in people’s care plans varied and some records we looked at did not include information about individual risks.

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. However, the systems in the service did not support this practice. Decision specific mental capacity assessments had not always been not carried out to establish if people had the ability to make informed decisions. Best interest decisions had not been appropriately completed and recorded. We made a recommendation about this.

Staff had received training in the safe use of moving and handling aids and felt confident supporting people to move around safely. People received their medicines as prescribed from well-trained, competent staff.

People were kept safe from risk of harm and ill treatment and the registered manager understood their responsibility to report any safeguarding concerns to the local authority safeguarding team and CQC.

People and their relatives were involved in the assessment and care planning process to ensure the support they received was what they wanted. The provider engaged with advocacy services where necessary to support people to make decisions about their care.

People received kind and compassionate support. Staff supported people to be as independent as possible and maintained people’s privacy and dignity when proving care.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 25 June 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date the service registered with us.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to the management oversight of the service.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

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