Esmero Care Services Limited

Esmero Care Services Limited is a community-based care provider that provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection five people were receiving a service and all were in receipt of the regulated activity of personal care.

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

Unsafe moving and handling techniques were being used by staff to support people to mobilise. Risk assessments did not always contain clear guidance to staff.

The manager of the service had not completed any moving and handling training themselves and therefore, had not identified where staff were not following safe practices.

The provider’s systems and processes for the management and oversight of the service were not consistently effective and had not identified the concerns we found during the inspection. There was no registered manager in post as required by law.

Staff had received training in safeguarding and knew how to keep people safe. The provider had recruitment processes in place to ensure suitable staff were employed. Medication was administered safely. Staff followed safe infection control practices.

Staff had received induction training to give them the skills and knowledge to support people safely however we found some staff were not following correct moving and handling techniques after completing their training.

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 supported by kind and caring staff who respected their privacy and dignity and supported their independence.

Care plans in place were personalised and showed the support people needed.

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 20/08/2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection of a newly registered service.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service.

We have identified breaches in relation to good governance at this inspection.

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 re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.