Archived: Caremark Leicester

Updated 28 December 2019

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an expert by experience. 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 homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that when a registered manager is registered, they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that there would be staff in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the service was registered in November 2018. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with three members of care staff, the registered manager and the care manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from management to validate evidence found, including amended procedures. We received this information.

Updated 28 December 2019

About the service

Caremark Leicester is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the registered manager confirmed the service was providing personal care to 12 people.

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

Care plans and risk assessments to help ensure people were safe were not always in place to do this. People felt safe with staff from the service. Staff understood how to protect people from the risk of harm and understood potential signs of abuse. Staff went through a recruitment process so that the provider only employed suitable staff.

People received their prescribed medicines, though there were a small number of gaps in medicine recording. People not been fully protected from the risk of infections through staff working practices. Staff undertook induction training that supported them to have the knowledge and skills to provide care to meet people’s needs, though more specialist training was needed.

Staff knew people well. People had usually developed positive relationships with staff which helped to ensure support to meet their needs, though this was not always the case. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and encouraged people to be as independent as possible.

People or their representatives were involved and consulted when drawing up their care plans but not consistently consulted through care reviews when making changes to how their support was provided. Staff knew and understood the needs of the people using the service and care was provided based on their assessed needs. Staff were responsive to changes in people's needs to ensure people received timely help to maintain their health and well-being. People did not always receive continuity of care which made them anxious about having too many different staff providing care to them.

People and relatives knew how to raise any concerns or make a complaint. The provider had a policy and procedure which involved investigation and solutions to put things right. This provided information about how these would be managed and responded to. However, it was not always clear that peoples’ or relatives concerns had been recorded and acted on.

Systems were in place to monitor the quality of care and support people experienced through quality assurance systems and processes to make improvements in the service, though not all services had been quality assessed to ensure high quality care provision. Issues such as continuity of care and the length of call times needed action.

Some people, relatives and staff spoke positively about the day-to-day management of the service, though this was not consistent. People said staff were usually friendly and caring, and they had good relationships with them, though this was not always the case. The service worked in partnership with external agencies to try to ensure people achieved good outcomes from their care and support.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests

People were provided with care and support that ensured they had good nutrition and hydration. They had access to healthcare that maintained their health and wellbeing. People were supported to have choice and control of their lives and staff supported them to do this.

Rating at last inspection:

This is the first rating for the service under the new ownership.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on our inspection timetable of inspecting new services.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-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