First Point 24

Updated 6 October 2023

The 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 was carried out by 1 inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 1 September 2023 and ended on 11 September 2023. We visited the location’s office on 1 September 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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

We spoke with 3 people who used the service and 4 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We received feedback from 7 care staff and 2 health professionals who have had contact with the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 6 people’s care records, 4 staff files in relation to recruitment and a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 6 October 2023

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.

About the service

First Point 24 is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. 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. At the time of our inspection there were 68 people receiving personal care support.

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

Right Support

The provider had not always ensured people were supported to make decisions about the timing of their care visits. People’s preferences for their support were not always recorded.

People were supported to take their medicines by trained staff; however, staff did not always have clear guidance about what support people required or any risks associated with their medicines.

Right Care

The provider had not always completed recruitment checks robustly to ensure staff were safely employed. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. However, the provider not always submitted safeguarding notifications in a timely manner.

Risks to people’s health and safety were not always appropriately documented to ensure staff knew how to support them safely.

People spoke positively about their care and told us their care visits were not rushed.

Right Culture

The provider did not have effective systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. It was not always clear how people, and those important to them, were actively involved in reviewing their care and giving feedback on the service.

The provider worked in partnership with other health and social care professionals to meet people’s needs. People, and those important to them, told us the management team were approachable and responsive.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 17 October 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management of safeguarding concerns at the service. 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 read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for First Point 24 on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to the provider’s governance and recruitment processes at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report. We have made a recommendation about the provider's systems for managing safeguarding concerns.

Follow up

We will request 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.