ST Complete Care Ltd

Updated 10 December 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 one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing.

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 gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 28 October 2021 and ended on 18 November 2021 where we visited the office location.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from professionals who work with the service such as the local authority. We used the information the provider sent us in 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 all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the owner who is also the registered manager, a management support mentor and four support workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

Updated 10 December 2021

About the service

ST Complete Care Ltd is a domiciliary care service providing personal care and support to eight adults who live in their own homes 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

Staff knew the people they supported well. There were enough knowledgeable and trained staff to help assist people’s care and support requirements. People and their relatives confirmed to us that staff were punctual to their care call visits. They also told us there had not been any missed visits.

Staff had medicines administration spot checks undertaken to look at their competency following their training. Staff were trained and were able to develop their skills and career through further training. Staff were encouraged to discuss their performance with the registered manager through supervision. Potential new staff to the service had checks carried out on them. This helped make sure they were suitable to work with the people they supported. New staff then had to complete an induction including shadowing a more experienced staff member on care call visits.

People and their relatives told us the support from staff made them and their family member feel reassured. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of how to keep people safe from harm or abuse. They also knew that they should report any concerns they may have to their registered manager or to external organisations such as the local authority.

Staff had access to information on people’s end of life wishes. This would help the person have as dignified death as possible in line with their wishes. Staff had access to information in peoples’ care plans and risk assessments that helped guide them to care and support people safely and effectively. Staff had plenty of single use personal protective equipment, such as gloves, aprons and face masks. Infection control practices were in place to reduce the risk of cross contamination. Lessons were learnt and shared with staff when things went wrong.

Most people did not require the support of staff with their food and drink. Where staff did support this people and their relatives had no concerns. Staff helped promote and maintain people’s privacy and dignity. Staff also encouraged people and their relatives to be involved in discussions around their care and support needs. People felt listened to and their choices respected by staff.

The registered manager and staff when required, would work with external health and social care professionals. This helped people to receive joined up care and support. The registered manager would also help signpost people to the right external organisation to help people and their relatives navigate the care system if needed. Complaints were investigated and actions taken as a result of learning to try to reduce the risk of recurrence. People and their relatives felt confident to raise concerns and feel listened to as they said communication was good.

People, and their relatives were asked to feedback on the service provided. Staff who could speak another language were matched to people for whom English was not their first language. This would help enable the persons understanding.

The registered manager sent staff any guidance and legislation updates. This helped staff to work with the most up to date guidance. Staff meetings were held to update staff on people’s care needs and provide updates on guidance and the organisation. Audits were undertaken to monitor the quality of the service provided.

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.

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 10 July 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This is the first inspection since the service registered with the CQC on 10 July 2020.

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.