Staffordshire

Updated 22 December 2022

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 for the 1st office visit and 2 inspectors for the 2nd office visit.

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 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 12 October 2022 and ended on 10 November 2022. We visited the location’s office on 12 October 2022 and 27 October 2022.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete the required Provider Information Return (PIR) for this inspection. This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about the service, what it does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed other information we had received about the service.

We asked Healthwatch if they had any information to share about the service. They did not have any feedback to share. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We sought feedback from the local authority and reviewed a copy of their most recent visit report with completed actions. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 6 people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 5 members of care staff plus the provider/registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people's care records and medication records. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and action plans. We also spoke with a social worker from the local authority.

Updated 22 December 2022

About the service

Staffordshire is a home care service providing personal care to adults with a range of support needs in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were 24 people using the service, some of whom had a learning disability.

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.

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.

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

The provider had made significant improvements since our last inspection, and they were no longer in breach of regulations. However, further improvements were still required to ensure the systems in place were always effective.

Right Support: We found improvements were required to ensure the provider supported people in line with the restraint reduction standard. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives however, further guidance was required to ensure staff clearly recorded how they supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service required further review to support this practice.

Right Culture: Since our last inspection, systems in place to improve the service had been implemented, however further improvements were still required. The systems to identify missed calls were not always effective. The provider had not ensured all required referrals were made. People’s care records had however, been reviewed to ensure people received calls in line with their care plan. Staff shared a positive culture which was person centred and they were encouraged to be open and honest when things went wrong. People, their relatives and staff were involved and engaged in the service.

Right Care: The provider had made improvements since our last inspection to ensure staff were recruited safely and people’s medicines were managed safely. People’s care plans detailed how their care was person centred and promoted their dignity. People were protected from the risk of infection through effective control systems in place. Lessons were learnt when things went wrong.

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 June 2022) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider had received a warning notice following the last inspection and they had to be compliant with this. 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 focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions safe and well led which contain those requirements.

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 remained requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Staffordshire 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.