About the service Care4us Healthcare is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service were supporting 11 people with personal care needs. 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
People and professionals working with the service gave positive feedback about the service. People were supported in a caring way by staff who understood the importance of treating people with dignity and respect.
Staff were responsible for administering medication to some people who used the service. We found staff had received training and competency checks as part of their induction process. We found examples of medication administration records (MARs) where medication which was administered from blister packs had not been recorded individually. This is not best practice in line with NICE guidance. At the time of the inspection the service were in the process of transitioning to electronic MARs. The system showed individual medications were listed. We have made a recommendation the service refer to the guidance and continue with this best practice.
Staff training records were not up to date. At the time of the inspection the service were transitioning between two systems to record their online training. The registered manager was in the process of collating the information. Staff had completed the induction process including observation shifts prior to supporting people with care.
Staff and people using the service spoke positively about the registered manager and the provider. Staff told us they were supported on calls by the management team as part of their induction process. We received positive feedback about the care being provided by staff.
Care plans were personalised to people’s needs and preferences. We saw examples of care plan reviews which involved the person using the service and their family. Staff understood the importance of treating people with dignity and respect. A person using the service and a relative of a service user felt they received good care from staff.
The management team had good oversight of the service and were in the process of implementing a new electronic system. The system enabled the registered manager to monitor call times and the completion of care tasks.
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.
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 27 August 2020 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.