Morden College

Updated 20 January 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by a single inspector.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was no registered manager in post. A manager had been appointed who told us they were in the process of applying to register with CQC.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service including notifications we had received.

We contacted the local authority to ask for their views about the service.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 21 September 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited the site office and spoke with the manager. We viewed two care plans, risk assessments and medicines records, staff records and records related to the running of the service such as meeting minutes.

We spoke with two people using the service and three care staff to gain their views about the service.

Updated 20 January 2023

About the service

Morden College personal care service provides care and support to people within the Morden College Charity Community. The charity supports older people through a range of services within their community so that they can live as independently as possible. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements.

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. At the time of the inspection there were four people using the personal care service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Some medicines were not always safely managed as staff did not always follow best practice guidance.

The system to oversee and monitor the quality of the service was not always effective at identifying issues.

There had been several changes of manager at the service since the last inspection. An improvement plan had been put in place which the new manager and clinical lead were working on.

People felt safe using the service. Staff knew how to recognise and report concerns or abuse. They were confident the management team would act to safeguard people if needed. Incidents and accidents were reported, and the registered manager reviewed them and took action to reduce the risk of repeated concerns.

Risks to people were assessed and management plans were put in place to reduce the risk from happening. Risk plans had not been reviewed but there was a plan to address this.

Staff were recruited safely and there were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Staff understood and followed safe infection control procedures.

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 told us their views about the service were asked for and that they were consulted and involved in their care. The service worked with health and social care professionals to ensure people's needs were safely met.

There was an empowering and positive culture at the service. People were supported to access facilities to reduce social isolation and engage their interests. The manager and staff demonstrated a commitment to their roles.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 2 April 2019).

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Morden College on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. we inspected the key questions safe and well led as a result of the information we held. The overall rating for the service has now changed to requires improvement.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have found breaches of regulation in respect of managing medicines and the oversight and monitoring of the service. The manager took action to start to address issues we found at the inspection.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.