Conquest Care and Support Agency LTD

Updated 22 July 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

The inspection was conducted by two inspectors. After the inspection, two Experts by Experience supported the inspection by making phone calls to people who used the service and their relatives to ask for their feedback. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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 a registered manager in post.

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.

Inspection activity started on 01 March 2023 and ended on 23 March 2023. We visited the location’s office on 14 March 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection, including notifications of significant events. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We also 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 took this into account in making our judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We reviewed a range of records. This included 5 people's care records, multiple medicines records and 5 staff records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, were also reviewed. We spoke with 10 people who used the service and 13 relatives. We reviewed 21 care workers written feedback of their experience of the service.

Updated 22 July 2023

About the service

Conquest Care and Support Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. At the time of our inspection 54 people were using the service. 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.

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

During the inspection we found risk assessments were not always robust enough and medicines were not always managed safely. Safe recruitment practices were not always followed to help ensure staff were suitable to support the people who used the service. Care workers did not always arrive at the agreed call times.

Recording systems were not robust enough to monitor and mitigate the risks relating to the health, safety and welfare of people using the service. Additionally, systems were either not in place or robust enough to demonstrate service improvement was effectively managed.

The provider had not always ensured people received care in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and the provider could not demonstrate people were always supported in their best interests. While the provider had policies and systems in place, these were not always robustly implemented.

We recommended the provider consider current best practice guidance to ensure they are working within the principles of the MCA.

Staff were supported in their roles through induction, training and supervision. They knew how to respond to safeguarding concerns and how to help to keep people safe.

The provider undertook initial assessments and used these with local authority assessments to develop a care plan to meet people’s needs. People and their relatives told us they knew who to contact if they had a concern.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service at the previous premises was good (published 21 June 2019).

Why we inspected

This focused inspection was prompted by a review of information we held about the service. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe, effective and well led sections of this full report.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, recruitment and good governance a this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this 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.