Archived: Care at Home Group St Helens

Updated 2 March 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We announced the inspection visit 48 hours' before it took place. This was because we needed to give time to prepare in advance for our visit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inspection activity started on 9 December 2020 and ended on 18 December 2020. We visited the office location on 9 December 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We had not asked the provider to complete the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used other information we had received about the service to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the manager and provider and reviewed a range of records. This included five people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at the recruitment files for six staff employed since the service was first registered with CQC.

After the inspection site visit

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic we limited the time we spent on site. Therefore, we requested records and documentation to be sent to us and reviewed these following the inspection visit.

We spoke over the telephone with six people who used the service and seven family members about their experiences of the care provided. We also spoke with six members of care staff.

Updated 2 March 2021

About the service

Care at Home Group St Helens provides care and support to people in their own homes across the St Helens, Knowsley and Widnes 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. At the time of the inspection there were 65 people using the service.

People's experience of using the service and what we found

Staff told us they felt additional pressures due to not always being given enough time to travel between people’s calls. This often resulted in them attending calls later than agreed. They also told us staff absence resulted in their rotas being changed at the last minute and being given calls out of their usual areas. People and family members told us, on-the-whole, staff arrived on time and stayed the agreed amount of time.

We have made a recommendation regarding this.

Risks to people, including those related to COVID-19, and the environment had been assessed and in most cases management plans were in place for staff to follow. However, staff told us they did not always have access to relevant information where new packages of care had commenced.

Staff received training and guidance in relation to infection prevention and control and followed current national guidance when using personal protective equipment. However, we could not always be assured that robust measures were in place to prevent the wider spread of infection in the event that a person tested positive for COVID-19.

People’s needs had been assessed and, in most cases, plans were in place for staff to follow and provide effective care. However, staff told us in some cases information about people’s care and support needs was not available and electronic devices lacked relevant information.

We have made a recommendation regarding this.

Systems were in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. However, they had not identified the issues we found relating to travel time and lack of information regarding people's care and support needs, including risk management.

Records indicated staff received training relevant to their role. Staff provided mixed feedback regarding the quality of the training and induction process and how confident they felt carrying out their role. The provider was in the process of reviewing their training and induction programmes.

Positive feedback was received from people about the care they received. Staff treated people with respect and made them feel at ease. People told us they mostly received care from consistent staff who knew them well.

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.

The manager acknowledged and celebrated the hard work, dedication and personal achievements of staff and organised various events throughout the year to encourage engagement from people using the service.

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

Rating at the last inspection

This service was registered with us on 7 April 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration.

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.