Archived: Medical Partnerships Limited

Updated 2 August 2016

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 the 28 June and 7 July 2016 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection to ensure the registered manager was available to assist us with the inspection. The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included the last inspection report and any statutory notifications we had received. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send us. We also reviewed a Provider Information Return (PIR). A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection we visited two people in their own homes and spoke on the telephone to one other person who used the service, two relatives and a social worker. We also spoke with four members of staff, the administration manager and the registered manager/registered provider. We reviewed five people’s care files, four staff recruitment and support files, training records, a sample of policies and procedures and quality assurance information.

Updated 2 August 2016

The inspection took place on the 28 June and 7 July 2016.

Medical Partnerships Ltd is a small domiciliary care agency (DCA) registered to provide personal care and support to older people living in their own homes. The service does not provide nursing care. At the time of our inspection 29 people were using the service.

A registered manager was in post who was also the owner of the business. 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.

Staff told us they had received the training they required to be able to carry out their role and were well supported by management; however we found that there were no formal systems in place for staff supervision and appraisal and completion of staff training had not been effectively monitored. We discussed this with the registered manager who immediately put into place a supervision and appraisal plan to ensure staff received formal supervision, including observation of practice and appraisal of their performance.

People felt safe. Staff had received training in safeguarding adults and understood the signs of abuse to look out for and how to report any concerns including whistleblowing if appropriate. Risk assessments were in place to keep people and staff safe. Safe recruitment processes were followed and there were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs. People received care from a consistent staff team.

People received a service which was based on their personal needs and wishes. Care plans were personalised and provided staff with sufficient information to meet people’s individual needs. Staff were caring and kind and knew the people they cared for well and treated people with dignity and respect.

Although records showed 40% of staff had not received training in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005, all the staff we spoke with had a basic understanding of the principles of the MCA and understood the need to obtain consent from people before providing care and to respect the rights of people to make their own decisions.

The registered manager had a number of ways of gathering people’s views and there were a number of informal quality monitoring processes in place to help ensure the service was running effectively.

The service had a complaints policy and people and relatives told us they were confident any concerns would be listened to. None of the people we spoke to during the inspection had any complaints about the service.

Staff felt valued and supported and enjoyed working for the service; they shared the registered manager’s vision and values and were committed to providing a high quality service to people.