8 November 2016
During a routine inspection
Humanedge Healthcare Ltd provides support and personal care to people living at home and recently has focused on providing palliative care to people in their own homes. At the time of this inspection, the service was providing support and personal care to one person which was part of a wider care package provided by a number of different agencies and coordinated by the palliative care team from the local Community Commissioning Group (CCG).
There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Relatives were positive about the staff and trusted them.
Staff could explain how they would recognise and report abuse and they understood their responsibilities in keeping people safe.
The service was following appropriate recruitment procedures to make sure that only suitable staff were employed at the agency.
Staff we spoke with had a good knowledge of the medicines that people they visited were taking and any possible side effects or contraindications.
Relatives and healthcare professionals were positive about the staff and told us they had confidence in their abilities. Although staff told us they felt supported by the registered manager, systems to monitor staff training and supervisions were not always effective in identifying when training was required.
Staff understood that it was not right to make choices for people when they could make choices for themselves, however training in understanding the Mental Capacity Act (2005) was not being provided in order to improve staff understanding of this important issue.
Staff were aware of people’s specific health needs including their dietary requirements and preferences.
Relatives told us they were kept up to date about any changes by staff of the service.
Health care professionals told us that the registered manager and staff were quick to respond to any changes in people’s needs.
Care plans reflected how people were supported to receive care and treatment in accordance with their current needs and preferences.
People told us they had no complaints about the service but said they felt able to raise any concerns without worry.
The vision and values of the service were known to staff and were being adhered to when supporting people using the service and in working with healthcare professionals.
We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This breach was in relation to good governance. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.