Prepare4care Ltd

Prepare4care is a domiciliary care agency which provides care and support to people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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. At the time of the inspection 55 people were receiving personal care. Most of the people supported were older people or people with a physical disability. The service is also registered to provide support to younger people, people with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder and mental health conditions.

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

New staff were not consistently recruited safely. The registered manager took immediate action during and following the inspection to address this.

People were supported by a regular team of staff who arrived on time and stayed the length of time they should. One person said, “We have a regular team of lovely carers and they have all adapted amazingly to how I need to be supported.”

People told us they felt safe receiving care and support from Prepare4care. Risks to people’s health, safety and welfare were regularly assessed, monitored and reviewed. Action was taken to keep people as safe as possible. People were protected from the risks of abuse, harm and discrimination by staff who were regularly trained to recognise signs of abuse. People received their medicines safely and on time.

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.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

• Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and independence

People were supported to make choices and to be as independent as possible. People were empowered to reach their personal goals, and this had positive outcomes for people. Staff spoke compassionately about the people they supported.

Right care:

• Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights

People received care and support that was planned with them and centred on them as an individual. There was a holistic approach to planning people’s care where people’s physical, psychological and social care needs were assessed with them. People’s privacy and dignity were respected, and their human rights protected.

Right culture:

• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people

using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives

The registered manager and staff worked as a cohesive team and followed a clear set of values. There was clear, visible leadership and the registered manager led by example. People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the leadership of the service.

People’s care and support needs were assessed before they began using the service to make sure staff could meet their needs. Regular reviews were completed to see if people needed any changes to their care packages. Care plans were written with people and their relatives to ensure people’s needs were at the centre of the care they received. These gave staff detailed guidance about how people preferred to be supported. People told us they were supported to be as independent as possible and staff encouraged and empowered them to reach their personal goals.

People told us they knew how to raise a complaint or inform the service about the good practice of staff. People did not have any complaints. Feedback, received through regular spot checks, quality assurance surveys and regular telephone calls to people, was positive. People were regularly reminded about how to provide any feedback as this was encouraged by the management team to make sure they could provide a good quality of service.

People, relatives and staff said they felt the service was well-led. They told us communication with the office was good and they would recommend the service to others. People had confidence in the leadership of the registered manager and the management team.

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 25 June 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the length of time since the service registered with CQC.

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.