We carried out a review of the data available to us about Meridian Health and Social Care - Preston on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Meridian Health and Social Care - Preston, you can give feedback on this service.
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. At the time of the inspection the agency supported 87 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 were safe and protected from abuse and avoidable harm. The manager identified risks to people’s safety, this was documented to support staff ensure the safety of people. Staff followed robust infection prevention and control procedures to protect people from COVID-19 and other infections. Staff were recruited safely and staff were deployed to suit specific needs of people. Support for people was planned to ensure they were involved in planning the personal support. Staff were trained to support people with their medicines. The manager and organisation had systems to learn from incidents to further improve the safety of the service.
The manager and senior staff assessed people’s needs and people received support they required. Staff were trained and skilled to provide people’s care, staff we spoke with confirmed this. One person said, “They all know what they are doing and seem well trained.” They supported people as they needed with preparing their meals and drinks. 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 supported by the agency told us staff and the management team who visited them were polite, kind and professional in their approach to their work. Staff supported people to attend healthcare appointments if necessary.
The service had a complaints procedure which was made available to people they supported. People we spoke with told us they knew how to make a complaint if they had any concerns.
The management team had auditing systems to maintain ongoing oversight of the service and make improvements where necessary. Quality assurance processes ensured people were able to give their views of the service and improvements made when they were identified.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The service was registered with us on 12/10/2020 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned first inspection based on their registration.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We undertook this inspection at the same time as CQC inspected a range of urgent and emergency care services in Lancashire. To understand the experience of social care providers and people who use social care services, we asked a range of questions in relation to accessing urgent and emergency care. The responses we received have been used to inform and support system wide feedback
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.