Conquest Care and Support Agency LTD

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.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were supported by staff that were caring, compassionate and treated them with dignity and respect. Any concerns or worries were listened and responded to and used as opportunities to improve.

People received person centred care and support based on their individual needs and preferences. Care workers knew people well and understood their communication needs. They used this information to develop positive and meaningful relationships with people.

People told us they felt well cared for by care workers who treated them with respect.

The provider ensured people had regular care workers, so that people and care workers were able to build positive relationships.

People were supported by care workers who had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs. Care workers understood and felt confident in their roles.

Care workers told us that would liaise with other health care professionals if this would be needed to ensure people's safety and health needs were met.

Care workers spoke positively about working for the provider. They felt well supported and they could talk to management at any time, feeling confident any concerns would be acted on promptly. They felt valued and happy in their work.

Quality monitoring checks were completed by the registered manager to check the quality and safety of the service. This information was shared with the staff team. The registered manager managed and supported the staff team in their roles to ensure people received a good service.

Rating at last inspection: During our last inspection we rated CCSA Ltd ‘Good’. (Report published 12 January 2017)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the date CCSA Ltd was last inspected by the CQC.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

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

This was the first inspection since registering with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in April 2015.

Conquest Care and Support LTD is a small domiciliary care service, which provides care in people’s homes. During the day of our inspection the service provided personal care support to three people, these included older people and children. The service had five care workers employed. At the time of our inspection the provider also acted in the role of the 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.

Policies, procedures and information available in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) ensured that people who could not make decisions for themselves were protected. Care workers demonstrated a good understanding of how to obtain consent for care from people who used the service.

People’s health care needs were assessed, and care planned and delivered in a consistent way. Risks associated with people’s care needs were assessed and updated when needs had changed.

Care plans were tailored to people’s unique and individual needs.

Care workers were provided with mandatory training, for example safeguarding adults, manual handling, food safety and medicines awareness.

Relatives told us that staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and worked in ways that demonstrated this.

Relatives said, and care records confirmed that people’s preferences had been recorded and that staff worked well to ensure these preferences were respected.

Relatives told us they were able to complain and felt confident to do so if needed.

Relatives and care workers told us that they provided their views about the quality of the service to the registered manager and were confident that actions would be taken to address suggestions for improvements.