24/7 Staffing Support Kettering

Updated 21 November 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

This 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.

At the time of our inspection this service did not provide care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

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 24 October 2023 and ended on 31 October 2023. We visited the location’s office on 24 October 2023.

What we did before the 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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people and 8 relatives of people who used the service. We spoke with 8 staff members, including the registered manager, a team leader, care coordinators and support workers. We reviewed a range of records, including 6 people's care records and medicine administration records. We looked at 5 staff files in relation to recruitment. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and checks, staff training, meeting records, and policies.

Updated 21 November 2023

About the service

24/7 Staffing Support Kettering is a domiciliary care service. They provide personal care to adults and older people living in their own homes or individual flats.

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 the inspection 43 people were receiving personal care.

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

People were supported safely by staff. People's needs and risks were assessed and managed. People’s care plans were comprehensive and personalised with their range of needs and abilities which promoted their safety and wellbeing. People received the support they required with their medicines.

Systems were in place to ensure staff were trained and understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Recruitment procedures needed to be strengthened to ensure suitable staff were employed to support people. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People received care and support from staff who knew them well and understood their individual needs and preferences.

Staff were supported through ongoing training and supervisions. The provider assured us training in learning disability and autism would be completed by all staff and management. Information was shared with staff to support in the delivery of good quality care

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.

Quality assurance systems were used effectively to monitor all aspects of the service provision and to drive improvements. The registered manager was responsive to feedback and agreed to strengthening the recruitment processes, training and audits. People were involved in the review of their care and their equality and diversity needs were considered and respected. Feedback about the quality of service was sought from people, their relatives and staff and used to make improvements.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

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 11 October 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about risk to people and staff training. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks and reviewed the key questions of Safe and Well-led only.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the Safe sections of this full report.

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 requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for 24/7 Staffing Support Kettering on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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