Buckingham Home Care Limited

Buckingham Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care in Buckingham and surrounding villages. At the time of our inspection there were 12 people using the service. 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

People were not consistently supported by care workers who had been robustly recruited. We found some required employment checks had not been carried out before staff started at the service. This had the potential to place people at risk of harm.

Induction, support and oversight of training of care workers was not sufficient to meet their development needs and make sure people were cared for by workers with the skills and experience to meet their needs.

Some governance systems were in place to monitor the quality of people’s care but these were not robust enough to identify all areas where improvements were required at the service.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. At the time of the inspection, people supported by the service had mental capacity. We have made a recommendation regarding providing support to people who may not have mental capacity and acting in their best interests.

Care plans were written to record people’s needs. We have made recommendations about providing more details about the support and equipment people need, to ensure they receive consistency with their care.

Risk assessments were in place to reduce the likelihood of harm to people. We have made a recommendation where people receive anti-coagulant therapy, to make sure staff can support them safely and effectively.

Medicines records were not always fully completed by care workers. We have made a recommendation about this to ensure accurate records are maintained.

People received healthcare support when they needed it and were supported with eating and drinking where this was part of their care package.

We have made further recommendations about developing the duty of candour policy and updating the complaints and whistleblowing policies.

People told us they were happy with the service provided to them. Comments included “Always been on time and have never missed a visit,” “They are very kind and helpful” and “I cannot fault the care, the ladies who come are very kind and very good.” People felt the service met their needs.

People said they were treated with dignity and respect and their views were sought through use of surveys. Reponses to a recent survey were positive. People said they would contact the provider if they had any concerns. No one we spoke with had needed to make a complaint.

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

This service was registered with us on 28 August 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was completed to provide the first rating for the location.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe, Effective and Well-led relevant key question sections of this full report.

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