Partners4Care Limited

Updated 23 June 2023

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

This inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors, 1 assistant inspector and 1 Expert by Experience.

An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

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

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced. Inspection activity started on 4 May 2023 and ended on 16 May 2023. We visited the location’s office on 4 May and 11 May 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 people who used the service and 6 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with or gathered feedback via email from 28 members of staff including the nominated individual, registered manager, office staff and care staff. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 8 people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 23 June 2023

About the service

Partners4Care Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own home. At the time of our inspection there were 162 people using the service.

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

Medicines were not always managed safely. The provider struggled to ensure all calls were on time and people often had different staff to support them. They assured us they were doing everything possible to recruit and retain staff to minimise the impact on people. Staff were recruited safely and appropriate pre-employment were done. New staff had access to an improved induction programme and shadowed experienced colleagues until they were confident to work alone. Risks to people were identified, assessed and measures were in place to mitigate these. The provider had effective systems in place to ensure people were protected from abuse. Staff had a good understanding of their responsibility in terms of safeguarding. People were supported by staff who had received training in infection prevention control and used the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

Quality assurance and governance systems in place were not always effective or robust. The provider had failed to ensure care records were easily accessible to all staff. Better communication was required around rotas and changes to staff. People often found office staff difficult to deal with and said calls were not always returned. The provider made attempts to gather feedback however staff meetings were not well attended and not everyone we spoke with had received a survey or questionnaire. Staff found the manager and wider management team approachable and supportive. People using the service were not always clear who the manager was. The provider worked in partnership with other professionals and/or stakeholders to benefit people using the service.

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.

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.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

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 good (published 9 July 2021).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staff training, particularly around medicines, timing of calls, staff welfare and the attitude of office staff. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Partners4Care Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to the management oversight at the service, including quality checks and accurate record keeping at this inspection.

We have made a recommendation about improving communication around late calls and staff changes.

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

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.