Archived: Sheena Miles Care Services Ltd

Sheena Miles is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 101 people using the service. The service supports people of all ages, including people with physical disabilities, learning disabilities or mental health issues.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

Staff helped people to live as independently as possible. 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. Risks were assessed but some documentation to support this was inconsistent. Staff supporting people knew people’s risks and how to manage these safely. There was a culture in place where staff felt comfortable in raising concerns if they had them. People were supported to take medicines safely. The registered manager faced challenges in recruiting appropriately skilled staff that could work flexibly to meet the needs of the service. There were, however, enough staff to ensure people’s needs were met safely. There was on-going recruitment for senior staff with an aim of giving the registered manager more dedicated time to oversee the running of the service.

Right Care:

People using the service were able to express their own views. When things went wrong, actions were put into place and lessons learned were shared with staff to improve the standard of care delivered. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. People’s medicines were managed safely, and staff worked with health professionals where they had concerns about people’s health.

Right Culture:

Staff understood and spoke positively about the importance of person-centred care and helping people to live as independently as they wished. The management team understood their roles and responsibilities and were in the process of improving governance systems. The registered manager was working to an action plan to ensure improvements were embedded consistently. The management team sought feedback from people using the service, their relatives, and staff. The registered manager put a strong focus on staff wellbeing, including breaks and paid travel time. They were receptive to input from staff to develop and improve the service. People told us the service was generally consistent, reliable and they were kept informed of changes.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 16 February 2022).

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out as part of our response to winter pressures in the NHS. We reviewed the evidence we held about the location, which suggested the rating may have improved to at least good and that an improved rating would create additional capacity within the service.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Sheena Miles Care Services Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Sheena Miles Care Services Ltd is a new service registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes in County Durham. At the time of our inspection there were 79 people using the service.

Not everyone using Sheena Miles Care Services Ltd receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with '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

The registered manager had identified a range of improvements were needed and had been working hard to address these, but at times these had not been successful. Staff had been employed to write support plans but had not completed this task in line with expected practice, the registered manager had taken proactive steps to rectify this issue.

There were enough staff on duty, but when setting up the service they had been very stretched, as care packages had been dispersed across the county. The registered manager regularly had to provide personal care, which meant they had limited time to undertake management tasks. The registered manager had acted to address these issues.

Due to demands on the registered manager’s time, they had not been able to regularly complete audits, seek people’s views about the service, ensure records were being maintained appropriately and care records were completed. They recognised this deficit and had created an action plan to rectify these issues. They provided evidence of the positive changes being made.

People had mixed views about the service. Some people found they did not always get consistent care workers and staff who understood their support needs. The organisation of staffing had not always been efficient. The registered manager was making improvements to the system they used to organise rotas and monitor calls.

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's care needs were assessed by social workers who provided this information to the registered manager. Support plans and risk assessments were drawn up from these assessments, but at times needed to be more detailed. When necessary, external professionals were involved in individual people’s care.

Staff took steps to safeguard people and promote their human rights. Some people felt complaints were not dealt with in a satisfactory manner. The registered manager confirmed they took all concerns seriously and would ensure the way these were responded to improved.

Appropriate checks were completed prior to staff being employed to work at the service. Medicines were administered safely. Staff adhered to COVID regulations and procedures.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 17 September 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection as the service had not previously been rated.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.