Archived: Cera Oldham

Homecare4u Oldham is a domiciliary care service based in Oldham, providing personal care to 51 people at the time of the inspection.

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

Appropriate risk assessments were not always in place for people. This meant risk had not always been adequately assessed or mitigated. Since the inspection the service has updated people’s care plans to include necessary risk assessments.

One person’s medicines administration record (MAR) had missing administration signatures and did not sufficiently detail the medication information.

Oral healthcare plans were not as detailed as they should have been. People’s care plans were not always updated when their needs changed.

Policies and procedures were in place. However, the infection control policy had not been updated since the COVID-19 pandemic, this was updated after our site visit. Audits were in place though they did not always identify issues in relation to gaps in records and risk assessments.

This was a breach of regulation 17 good governance, as detailed in the well led domain.

Staff supervisions were up to date and happening in line with policy. Staff were up to date with training. However, some staff had limited knowledge about the mental capacity assessment. This was feedback to the registered manager who said they would address this. 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.

Surveys were being carried out and actions were taken based on the feedback. We were able to see the service carried out lessons learned from issues which arose.

Pre assessments were in place for people and consent to care forms were in peoples care plans. People were supported with eating and drinking when required.

Feedback from people who used the service was positive about the caring nature of the staff.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we inspected

This service was registered with us on 2 August 2019 and this was the first inspection.

Enforcement

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 have identified a breach in relation to good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.