5 August 2020
During an inspection looking at part of 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
People did not receive safe care or support as the processes, systems and managerial oversite was ineffective. Staff were not safely recruited or sufficiently trained to safely support people. People were not safeguarding from the risks of abuse or ill-treatment as the management team failed to follow locally agreed protocols for reporting concerns. People did not receive safe support with their medicines as the staff had not been trained or assessed as competent before supporting them. The management team failed to complete accurate guidelines for the safe administration of medicines.
The service was not well-led. The management team did not have effective quality monitoring systems in place to identify or respond to poor care, poor record management or inadequate risk assessments. The management team failed to provide evidence they were competent to effectively assess risks of potential harm or complete care and support plans. The provider failed to notify us of key events which they are required to do by law.
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 was Good (published 7th November 2018).
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing, safety and the management of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for the other key questions were not looked at on this occasion but were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to inadequate. 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 Essence Telford Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
Enforcement.
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We have identified breaches in relation to keeping people safe, staff recruitment and training, safeguarding people from abuse, quality monitoring and reporting significant incidents.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report. Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.
We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.
If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe. And there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.
For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it. And it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.