Archived: New Care (Newton Abbot)

Updated 22 May 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 checked 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 visit took place on 24, 25, 26 February and 11 March 2015 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we wanted to make sure staff were available to speak with us. We made telephone calls to people on 2 and 3 March 2015.

Two social care inspectors and two experts-by-experience carried out this inspection. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Their area of expertise was care for older people.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service.

On the day of our visit, 251 people were using the service. We used a range of different methods to help us understand people’s experience. We spoke with 36 people and their relatives on the telephone. We visited five people in their homes. We spoke with 14 staff, the managing director and the manager.

We looked at six care plans, medication records, four staff files, audits, policies and records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 22 May 2015

New Care (Newton Abbot) provides care and support to a range of people including older people and people with learning disabilities, who live in their own homes.

This location has a condition of registration that it must have a registered manager. 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 the time of the inspection, the location did not have a registered manager. The provider had employed a manager who was in the process of applying to register with the Care Quality Commission.

We visited the office on 24 February 2015. At the time of our inspection 251 people were using the service. Our last inspection took place in August 2014. At that time, we found the service was not meeting the regulations in relation to care and welfare, medicines management, staffing levels, and quality assurance. We took enforcement action and told the provider they needed to make improvements. The provider sent us an action plan telling us what they were going to do to meet the regulations. On this visit we checked and found improvements had been made.

People and their relatives were pleased with the care they received and praised the staff. Comments included “I can’t fault the carers at all” and “They’re good, friendly and polite”. People were happy and relaxed when we visited them in their homes. Staff treated people with respect and kindness. People responded to this by smiling and engaging with staff in a friendly way.

People told us they felt safe when staff visited them to provide care. Most people had a regular group of staff who they knew and trusted. Several people said they would prefer staff they knew so they were more familiar with their needs and how they liked things to be done. The co-ordinator told us they did their best to provide regular staff but this could sometimes be difficult due to staff changes and absence.

Appropriate staff recruitment checks had been undertaken to ensure staff were suitable to work with people. Staff received safeguarding training and knew what to do if they were concerned that a person was being abused.

The provider employed enough staff to carry out people’s visits and keep them safe. New care packages were not taken on if they didn’t have enough staff available to cover all visits and provide emergency cover.

People’s visits were often late but they understood delays were sometimes unavoidable. People were not always informed of changes to their visits. They said they would appreciate a call so they knew what was happening. Several people said they had cancelled visits as they were later than their planned visit.

Staff understood the needs of the people they were supporting. Staff were trained to ensure they provided care and support that met people’s needs. They demonstrated a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities, as well as the vision of the service.

Each person’s care plan had been reviewed and updated. People and their relatives were involved in care planning. People were asked for their consent before staff assisted them. One person told us “When they arrive they always sit and read the file and check with me on what is to be done”.

People's medicines were managed safely. Some people managed their own medicines if they wanted to and if they had been assessed as safe to do so. Staff gave other people their medicines. People had received their medicines as they had been prescribed by their doctor to promote good health.

People were given a copy of the complaints policy and knew how to make complaints. However, the provider’s complaints procedure was not always followed and this resulted in complaints not being responded to appropriately. This was a breach of Regulation 16 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The provider had systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of care. The service encouraged feedback and used this to drive improvements. The provider aimed to provide people with high quality care.

Several people felt the service had improved recently and commented on the manager; “They sound very pro-active” and “They were very nice”. Staff told us they worked well as a team and found the manager approachable. One staff member said “They have an open door, no problems approaching them”.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.