Archived: East Riding Quality Home Care

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

Not everyone using East Riding Quality Home Care receives the regulated activity; the Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. There were 37 people using this service at the time of our inspection, 25 people were receiving a regulated activity.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of the inspection. 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. The registered manager, who had been the previous provider, was not present at the time of inspection. Since the last inspection they had sold the service to a new provider and the service was in a period of transition. The new provider was present at the inspection.

People told us they felt safe, however staff had limited knowledge on safeguarding procedures. Risk assessments had not always been carried out when people had an identified need.

People received their medication safely although there were some issues with recording and auditing medication records.

It was unclear from peoples care records if they had the capacity to consent to their care plans.

Staff received training although we identified gaps in subjects meaning we could not be assured staff had the knowledge to meet people’s needs. Some staff had not received training in first aid, infection control, mental capacity act 2005 and equality and diversity. We were unable to see evidence for some staff of induction records.

Staff were not receiving appraisals, or meeting with the provider regular as stated in their policies. The provider showed evidence they had systems in place where they were in regular contact with staff and staff could raise any concerns.

Person centred detail was not always included in people’s care records. People’s care records did not always say how they like to receive support. The new provider informed us they were updating all care plans across the service. However, this work had not been completed when we inspected the service. The provider carried out regular reviews with people.

People and relatives told us staff were caring. We saw that staff knew people well and had good relationships. People's privacy and dignity were respected, and they were encouraged to be independent.

The provider used technology to monitor people’s calls and ensure calls where not missed. The system in place alerted the provider if staff where fifteen minutes late. The system ensured no calls where missed.

The provider had not operated a robust quality assurance system. Audits carried out had not identified the shortfalls which we found during this inspection. Where audits had highlighted improvement areas action had not always been taken to address them.

People and staff spoke highly of the new provider who had recently taken over the service.

Records had not always been completed fully.

We found two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 during this inspection. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of this report.

East Riding Quality Homecare Limited is registered to provide personal care and other types of support to people living in their own homes, such as assisting with the administration of medication and the preparation of meals. The agency office is located in Anlaby, in the East Riding of Yorkshire and staff provide a service to people living in the surrounding areas.

The registered provider is required to have a registered manager in post and on the day of the inspection there was a manager in post who was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 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.

People told us that they felt safe whilst they were receiving a service from care workers. People were protected from the risks of harm or abuse because the registered provider had effective systems in place to manage any safeguarding concerns. Staff were trained in safeguarding adults from abuse and understood their responsibilities in respect of protecting people from the risk of harm. Staff also told us that they would not hesitate to use the agency’s whistle blowing procedure if needed.

New staff confirmed that they received induction training when they were new in post, and staff told us that they were happy with the training provided for them. The training records evidenced that all staff had completed induction training and that refresher training was completed by staff on a regular basis.

New staff had been employed following the agency’s recruitment policies and procedures, and this ensured that only people considered suitable to work with vulnerable people had been employed.

We saw that there were sufficient numbers of staff employed to meet people’s individual needs. The registered manager made sure that, whenever possible, staff worked within a small area so that their travelling time was reduced. This meant they were able to spend most of their time with the people they were supporting rather than travelling from person to person.

People told us that care workers and managers were caring and that their privacy and dignity was respected by all staff who worked for the agency. People told us that they received the support they required from care workers and that their care packages were reviewed and updated as required. They expressed satisfaction with the assistance they received with the administration of medication and meal preparation.

There was a complaints policy and procedure in place and there were systems in place to deal with any complaints received. However, no complaints had been received by the agency since the last inspection. In addition to this, no complaints about the agency had been received by CQC or the local authority.

There were systems in place to seek feedback from people who received a service, and feedback had been analysed to identify any improvements that needed to be made. The analysis had been shared with everyone who received a service and with staff, and we saw that it was also displayed on the agency’s website. People told us that any concerns they had were listened to and acted on.

The quality audits undertaken by the registered provider were designed to identify any areas that needed to improve in respect of people’s care and welfare.

People were highly satisfied with the consistency of the service. They told us that they received support from the same care worker or small group of care workers, and that they were informed if a different care worker would be attending. People said that care workers arrived on time and stayed for the agreed length of time.

The registered provider had a website and we saw that this included information for people that was ‘over and above’ what would be required of the agency. It included general advice for people on where and how to obtain support with areas such as benefits, transport and social activities as well as the service provided by East Riding Quality Homecare Limited.

People told us that they were happy with the service they received. One person said, 'The carers are more like friends than carers" and another person said, 'It is an excellent service all round'. People told us that care workers arrived at the right time and stayed for the correct length of time.

Most of the people who we spoke with told us that they could manage their own medication but those who received some support said that they had never had any concerns about the support they received from staff.

Personnel records evidenced that the agency followed robust recruitment and selection practices when employing staff. Staff completed induction training before they commenced work with people who used the service.

Care workers told us that there were enough staff to support the people who received a service and, because the service employed part time staff, there was usually someone available to cover sick leave or holidays.

There were effective quality monitoring systems in place that gave people who used the service, their relatives and staff the opportunity to comment on the way the agency was operated. This included a complaints system. We saw evidence that the registered persons were proactive in ensuring that they kept up to date with good practice guidelines.