Mayfair Homecare - Portsmouth

Updated 16 February 2023

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

The inspection was completed by one inspector and two Experts by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 2 December 2022 and ended on 3 January 2023. We visited the location’s office on 2 December 2022. The inspection then continued off-site which included the review of information submitted by the provider and speaking to relevant people.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we had received about the service since it was registered. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 31 July 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with fifteen people who use the service and eight family members. We spoke with the registered manager, care services director, care co-ordinator and six care staff. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service including recruitment records, quality assurance records, policies and procedures, along with training and supervision records. We also reviewed a range of records including daily care communication logs, support plans and risk assessments.

Updated 16 February 2023

About the service

Mayfair Homecare- Portsmouth is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to older and younger adults who require this due to illness, disability, learning disabilities or autism. At the time of our inspection, the agency was providing care to 126 people living in Portsmouth and the surrounding areas.

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

Although people told us they felt safe, we identified a lack of person-centred guidance for staff on how to provide safe care to people. Risks to people were mitigated by a well-trained, knowledgeable staff team and people we spoke to confirmed 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 were not sufficiently embedded in practice to support this. The registered manager took prompt action to address this.

Feedback from people and staff gave mixed reviews on the timing and length of care calls and allocated travel time for staff between care calls, which existing quality assurance systems had not identified. However, the management team were working hard to recruit and retain staff. People told us and records viewed confirmed all care needs were met by staff during the care calls which mitigated the risk. People were supported by staff who had been safely recruited. Staff wore appropriate personal protective equipment and followed government guidance on COVID-19.

Quality assurance systems and processes were in place for monitoring, assessing and improving quality of the care provided to people who use the service. Where these were completed, they had not consistently identified the areas of improvement required, which we found on inspection. This included; person centred management plans, potential impact of staffing levels on people’s care calls and record keeping. The registered manager took immediate action which included updating documents to prompt staff to record information accurately and arranging additional relevant training for the management team.

People told us staff supported them safely with their medicines.

When safeguarding concerns or complaints were raised, investigations were completed in line with policies in place.

People we spoke to thought staff had the right skills to care for them and were confident in their abilities. A robust induction package was in place prior to starting their role and ongoing training and supervision was provided.

People told us they were cared for by staff who were kind and caring and treated them with dignity and respect, while supporting them to be as independent as possible.

People were supported by staff to access healthcare professionals when needed and worked alongside health and social care professionals to ensure a joined-up approach to people’s care.

There was a person-centred culture within the service, and people were placed at the centre of their care by staff and management. The registered manager demonstrated they wanted to ensure people received a high quality, safe and responsive service. They were also mindful of recognising the good work the staff completed and their wellbeing.

The management team were open and transparent and understood their regulatory responsibilities.

People told us the service was well led and they would recommend Mayfair Homecare - Portsmouth to others.

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.

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 14 October 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to quality assurance procedures at this inspection.

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

Follow up

We will work alongside the provider and continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

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