17 March 2022
During a routine inspection
About the service
Krystal Solutions Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. 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. The service was providing personal care to three people at the time of the inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Staff weren’t always recruited safely; employment histories had not been checked. Care plans and risk assessment documents had not been completed accurately and contained information that did not relate to them. There was a potential risk that care workers would not have enough information to support people safely. We saw no evidence the people currently receiving support were at risk and care workers knew the people well.
People and relatives were positive about the service they received from Krystal Solutions. There were enough staff to support people safely; staff had attended training to prepare them for their role and infection control risks were managed. People were protected from abuse; staff had completed training in safeguarding and recognising signs of abuse.
People and relatives told us staff were always kind, treated them with dignity and respect and maintained their privacy. Care workers knew how to support people safely and people told us they felt safe. Staff told us they enjoyed their job. One staff member told us she liked supporting people and seeing the smile on their faces.
The registered manager was committed to providing a high-quality, person centred service and worked in partnership with other professionals, such as the local authority and hospital discharge teams.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
We undertook this inspection at the same time as CQC inspected a range of urgent and emergency care services in Kent and Medway. To understand the experience of social care providers and people who use social care services, we asked a range of question sin relation to accessing urgent and emergency care. The responses we received have been used to inform and support system wide feedback.
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 30/04/2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the timescales for unrated services.
Enforcement
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report. We have identified breaches in relation to safe recruitment of care workers and record keeping at this inspection. You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
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 monitor the service.
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 to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.