Archived: Comfortcare

Updated 3 June 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 27 February 2015 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

We reviewed information sent to us from other stakeholders for example the local authority and members of the public.

We spoke with two people who used the service and two relatives on the telephone. We also spoke with two health and social care professionals about their views of the care provided.

We looked at records in relation to three people’s care. We spoke with the registered manager, a member of the office staff and four care workers. We looked at records relating to the management of the service, staff recruitment and training, and systems for monitoring the quality of the service.

Updated 3 June 2015

Comfortcare provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. When we inspected on 27 February 2015 there were two people using the domiciliary care service within the Essex area where the agency is based and two people from Cardiff, Wales where the provider is developing the business and had recently started delivering care.

This was an announced inspection. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons.’ Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At our last inspection on 30 May 2014, we asked the provider to take action to make improvements in care and welfare of people who used the service, safeguarding people who used services from abuse, staff recruitment, training and supervision and assessing and monitoring the quality of the service provision. The provider submitted an action plan and met with us to tell us how they planned to implement improvements. During this inspection we looked to see if the previous shortfalls identified had been addressed. We found that some progress had been made to address our concerns but further improvements were needed.

People and relatives were happy with the service provided and said the agency met their needs.

Systems were in place which provided guidance for care workers on how to safeguard the people who used the service from the potential risk of abuse. Care workers understood the various types of abuse and knew who to report any concerns to.

Although individual risk assessments had been implemented for people. Information on how to minimise identified risks and to support people safely was basic and inconsistent.

Appropriate checks on care workers were carried out with sufficient numbers employed to meet people’s care needs.

Although progress had been made to support care workers, further improvements were needed to provide them with the knowledge and skills to carry out their roles and responsibilities in line with best practice.

Where people required assistance to take their medicines appropriate arrangements were in place.

People had developed good relationships with their regular care workers. They felt they were treated with respect.

People were supported to eat and drink according to their plan of care

People and their relatives, where appropriate, were involved in making decisions about their care and support. Systems were in place for care workers to contact health and social care professionals if they had identified concerns in people’s wellbeing.

While a complaints procedure was in place. It was not clear how people’s feedback, concerns and complaints were listened to, addressed in a timely manner and used to improve the service.

The manager was unable to demonstrate an understanding of the importance of robust quality assurance systems and consequently the arrangements in place were not effective. Systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service did not identify shortfalls and reflect learning from events or actions taken to improve the service.

Governance arrangements were not robust. Information requested was not always accessible, accurate and received in a timely manner.

We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated activities) Regulations 10. You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.