May's Homecare Limited

Updated 25 June 2022

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 undertaken by two inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

Service and service type

May's Homecare Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We carried out the inspection visit on 18 May 2022. It was announced. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming. We did this because the registered manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We needed to be sure that they would be available at their office.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the home which included statutory notifications and safeguarding alerts The agency was not asked to complete the Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We went to the service's office and spoke with the nominated individual, the registered manager and three care workers. We looked at two care records and three staff records; we also looked at various documents relating to the management of the service. After the inspection visit, we spoke with four relatives of people person who used the service.

Updated 25 June 2022

About the service

May's Homecare Limited is a domiciliary care agency that provides care and support to people in their own home at the time of this inspection, six people were using the service.

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

Our last inspection identified shortfalls related to the running of the service. Governance of the service was ineffective, and the provider did not have systems and processes in place to monitor service delivery effectively. The shortfalls we identified related to the lack of adequate assessment of risks to people's health and wellbeing and risks associated with delivering care. Further shortfalls concerned recruitment procedures, working alongside external health and care professionals, the lack of personalised care planning, and limited managerial oversight of the service.

At the last inspection, we found several breaches of legal requirements. We issued a warning notice to the provider and requested an action plan be sent to us to show us how the service was going to improve care. At this inspection we found improvements had been made in areas of concern, the issues raised in the warning notices and most of the breaches had been addressed. However, the service had not sufficiently addressed the issues relating to recruitment of staff until after our inspection visit.

Risks to people were assessed and regularly reviewed. Staff understood the actions needed to minimise the risk of avoidable harm including the prevention of avoidable infection. Staff had completed safeguarding training and understood their role in identifying and reporting any concerns of potential abuse or poor

practice.

Staff were committed to providing a high-quality service. They had undertaken training so that they were skilled and knowledgeable to effectively meet people’s needs.

Staff encouraged people to be as independent as possible and respected people’s privacy and dignity. Staff knew people 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.

People were given choices about the way in which they were cared for. Staff listened to them and knew their needs well. Care plans contained information about the person’s individual support needs and preferences in relation to their care and we found evidence of good outcomes.

People told us that staff were able to meet their needs and were respectful of their individual preferences. People confirmed the service did not miss any care calls and that staff were always on time.

People received care and support from a small group of staff, which provided consistency.

The registered manager of the service actively sought the views of people and their relatives about the running of the service and they dealt promptly with any concerns that people raised.

The provider had improved systems in place to monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided.

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

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan, and to confirm they now met legal requirements related to the Warning Notice and the breaches of the regulations. We carried out a full comprehensive inspection covering all five domains, safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

Rating at last inspection

At the last inspection we rated this service requires improvement (published 23 November 2021)

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Mays homecare Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified a breach in relation to the governance of the service, and made a recommendation in relation to staff recruitment processes.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information, we may inspect sooner