6 January 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Connected Health Plus is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection the service was supporting 49 people with personal care. 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
People received their medicines safely and as prescribed. Staff had received training on this topic and their competency was regularly checked. Record keeping in this area had significantly improved since the last inspection and the provider had implemented quality assurance processes to check people were receiving their medicines safely.
Overall, the punctuality and duration of people’s calls had improved since the last inspection and this was reflected in people’s feedback. One person said, “At the moment, since about June or July, it’s been a million times better and they’re keeping to four times a day now.” However, there were still some examples of variations in people’s scheduled call times and durations and their actual times and duration. One person commented, “They’re still often late and seem to have a steady stream of excuses.” Staff rotas were both safer and more manageable since the last inspection and staff were no longer working excessive hours in order to cover calls. Staff were safely recruited by the service.
People and relatives said they felt safe with the staff. One person commented, “I feel absolutely safe because of their professionalism and their skills. All have been above and beyond.” The provider had systems in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. Staff had received safeguarding training and understood their role and responsibilities managing safeguarding concerns.
People and their relatives told us staff always wore the required personal protective equipment (PPE) when supporting them. Staff had received training on infection prevention and control and used personal protective equipment (PPE) in line with the national guidance. Some staff had been taking a lateral flow tests (LFTs) twice-a-week rather than a weekly polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test as per the national guidance for care at home services. The provider took immediate action during our inspection to ensure all staff were carrying out the correct type of test, clarifying that LFTs were supplementary to the required weekly PCR test.
People and their relatives were able to give feedback about their care. They spoke positively about the way staff had engaged with them and responded to any concerns they had since our last inspection. Comments included, “They’re very nice and you can speak to them, they’ve really improved. I do get questionnaires asking about my views” and “Communication is excellent. I know where I am with them. We have a good rapport and trust. It’s easier to call the contact number for the office now.”
The provider had improved its quality assurance processes since our last inspection. However, further improvements were required to improve the robustness and efficacy of some aspects of these processes. The culture amongst staff at the service had improved. There was an increased focus and ability to provide people with safe and effective care that met their needs.
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 inadequate (published 3 September 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
This service has been in Special Measures since 3 September 2021. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.
Why we inspected
We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 24 and 28 June 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to address the multiple breaches of regulations.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.
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 inadequate to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
Follow up
We will work alongside the provider and local authorities to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.