Care 77 Limited

Updated 20 August 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because we wanted to speak to some people who use the service before we attended the registered office. It also meant we were able to review a variety of documents off site. We visited the office location on 14 June 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We spoke to six people who use the service to gain some feedback about the care they receive. We contacted the local commissioners who work with the service to gain feedback of their experience. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with another eight people or their relatives who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with nine members of staff including the nominated individual, registered manager, senior care workers and care workers. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality assurance documents.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at new quality assurance processes and risk assessments that had been introduced following the site visit.

Updated 20 August 2021

About the service

Care 77 Limited is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection 58 people were receiving a personal care service. People had a variety of health needs and some people had physical disabilities. 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.

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

Some improvements were needed to the care plans and risk assessments for complex needs such as diabetes and catheter care, to ensure appropriate guidance was available. We found no evidence that people were harmed, and staff were able to tell us how to care for people with these needs.

Improvements had been made to recruitment processes. Staff had received all relevant checks before starting at the service and a new audit system helped the management team to monitor this. People and their relatives felt there were enough staff and were on time for care calls, anytime a call was late, they were kept informed. People told us they felt safe with the care they receive and knew who to go to if they had any concerns. Staff were able to identify potential signs of abuse and how to report any concerns.

Shortfalls were found at our last inspection in relation to checks and audits. We found similar concerns on this inspection, where audits completed did not identify issues related to diabetes and catheter care.

Staff were positive about the management team and felt supported in their roles. People and their relatives felt the service was managed well and knew how to contact the manager if they needed too. The registered manager worked with others to provide joined up care for people. New quality assurance systems have just been introduced to help the management team have better oversight of the care provided. The registered manager had plans to improve the service and worked on a service improvement plan.

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 26 February 2020. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection enough improvement had not been sustained and the provider was still in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating. We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 17 December 2019. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve Regulation 19 of the Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm whether they met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. 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.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has remained the same. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Care 77 on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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 we may inspect sooner.