Archived: Clece Care Services Ltd (Gateshead)

Updated 18 May 2016

We undertook an announced focused inspection of Clece Care Services Ltd (Gateshead) on 4 and 5 April 2016. We gave short notice that we would be coming as we needed to be sure that someone would be in at the office.

This inspection was done to check that improvements to meet legal requirements had been made after our comprehensive inspection on 19, 21 and 22 January 2016.

We inspected the service against four of the five questions we ask about services: ‘Is the service safe?’, ‘Is the service effective?’, ‘Is the service responsive?' and ‘Is the service well-led?’ This was because the service was not meeting a number of legal requirements at the time of our comprehensive inspection.

This inspection was undertaken by an adult social care inspector and an adult social care inspection manager.

During the inspection we met with the new manager, an operations manager, the operations director, a compliance officer, six office based staff and two care workers. We examined 14 people’s care records, 11 staff files, training records and other records related to the management of the service.

Updated 18 May 2016

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service on 19, 21 and 22 January 2016. Breaches of legal requirements were found in relation to staffing, safeguarding people from abuse, safe care and treatment, governance of the service and notification of incidents.

We undertook this focused inspection on 4 and 5 April 2016 to follow up on the action we had taken and check if the provider was now meeting legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to these requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Clece Care Services Ltd (Gateshead) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Clece Care Services Ltd Gateshead provides personal care and support to people in their own homes in the Gateshead area. At the time of our inspection services were provided to 152 people, mainly older people including people with dementia-related conditions.

In the period since the last inspection the registered manager had left the service and another manager was now in the process of applying for registration. 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.

We found that staffing resources had been increased and there was capacity to meet people’s contracted hours of service. However, the recruitment of new staff was not fully robust.

There were improved systems in place for co-ordinating and monitoring the service which helped to prevent missed visits and protect people from neglect. Processes for managing safeguarding concerns had also improved but the provider had not ensured the Care Quality Commission was notified of such incidents.

Personal records had been updated, giving staff guidance on managing risks during care delivery and care plans to follow for meeting people’s needs. The arrangements for supporting people with their prescribed medicines were subject to closer scrutiny.

Action had been taken to improve the training, supervision and support provided to staff. A new manager was in post and the service was now being managed more effectively. The management had introduced quality assurance methods to check the standards of the service and the care that people received.

We concluded the provider had made progress in addressing the breaches of legal requirements, which will need to be embedded and sustained. We have not changed the ratings following this inspection as any improvements made have to be sustained over time in order for the ratings to be changed. The service is in ‘special measures’ and we will continue to monitor the safety and quality of the service being provided.

The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. Services in special measures will be kept under review and, if we have not taken immediate action to propose to cancel the provider’s registration of the service, will be inspected again within six months. The expectation is that providers found to have been providing inadequate care should have made significant improvements within this timeframe.

If not enough improvement is made within this timeframe so that there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve. This service will continue to be kept under review and, if needed, could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement so there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action to prevent the provider from operating this service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their 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.