Fountain Based Ltd

Fountain Based Ltd is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care. At the time of the inspection, two people were receiving support with personal care.

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

Risks to people were not always recorded or mitigated against. Wording in documentation around risk was imprecise and would not provide staff with suitable instruction to ensure risks were understood and met. Recruitment processes were not robust. The provider had not completed checks on new staff correctly to ensure they were safe to work with vulnerable people. The provider was unaware of up to date guidance on infection prevention and control and did not record staff testing satisfactorily. At the time of inspection no one was being supported to have their medicines administered; however, we have made a recommendation about assessing medicine risks because staff had recorded the medicines people take.

Staff were trained to safeguard adults from abuse and there had been no incidents or accidents at the service.

The provider did not have good oversight of staff training and induction of staff appeared incomplete.

Assessments of people’s needs had been completed with people in line with the law. The service recorded people’s care in communication logs. People’s nutrition and hydration needs were met. People consented to their own care and staff understood the law in this regard.

Some of the language used in care plans was not respectful of equality or diversity.

People and relatives told us staff treated people well. People were able to make their views known to the service. People’s privacy and dignity were respected and their independence promoted.

Care plans were not always person-centred; language used in care plans did not always treat people as individuals or reflect their needs.

People’s end of life wishes were not recorded. We have made a recommendation about this.

The service met and recorded people’s communication needs. People and relatives told us they would feel comfortable to complain if required.

Quality assurance systems and processes at the service were not effective. Language used in documentation was not always up to date or correct.

Staff were clear about their roles. Management were able to tell us how they would respond if things went wrong. The service sought to work with other agencies to the benefit of others.

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 19 October 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to recording risk, recruitment, staffing and also governance at this inspection.

We have made two recommendation to the provider. We have recommended they follow best practice guidance around managing medicines safely and recording end of life wishes.

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 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.