Premium Homecare Ltd

Premium Homecare is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own home. At the time of our inspection there were 107 people using 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 the service and what we found:

The provider’s systems did not always effectively monitor the quality of care provided to drive improvements. At the time of our inspection there were not sufficient systems in place to ensure the registered manager had appropriate oversight of all areas of service delivery.

The electronic systems for care records and call scheduling was also not fit for purpose. We found complete, accurate and contemporaneous records were not maintained in regard to people’s care needs or risks to their health and welfare. Staff had not always appropriately assessed risks to people’s safety.

Whilst the registered manager was aware of and had started to make changes, at the time of our inspection we found people experienced late visits, insufficient planning for those people who required support from 2 care workers and insufficient travel time between calls.

Safe recruitment practices were not in place to ensure suitable and competent staff were employed.

People were happy with the support they received and had developed good relationships with their regular care worker. People felt safe and comfortable with their care worker. Systems were in place to safeguard people from avoidable harm. Adequate systems were in place for the administering and management of medicines. Good infection prevention and control procedures were in place. Individual incidents and complaints were managed appropriately. People, relatives and staff felt comfortable speaking with the registered manager and office staff. They felt any concerns raised were listened to and dealt with.

The registered manager was working well with the local authority and were making progress on their agreed action plan. The provider was in the process of purchasing a new electronic call monitoring and recording system which would enable them to have clearer monitoring and oversight of key information.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 6 August 2021)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about poor timekeeping for visits, complaints management and risks relating to safeguarding matters. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led only.

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 good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, staff recruitment and good governance.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow Up

We will request an action plan from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Premium homecare is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to four people at the time of the inspection. Not everyone who uses type of service receives 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 personalised care that met their needs. Staff were aware of the risks to people’s safety and provided support that minimised those risks. When needed, staff supported people with their medicines, nutritional needs and access to healthcare services.

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; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People and/or their relatives were involved in their care and the care planning process. Detailed individualised care plans were in place which included information about the level of support people required and how this was to be provided by staff.

There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs and thorough recruitment checks were undertaken to ensure people were supported by suitable staff. Staff completed regularly training courses and had frequent supervision sessions to ensure they had the knowledge and skills to undertake their role.

The registered manager was aware of their CQC registration requirements and the duty of candour. They undertook regular telephone monitoring calls and spot checks to ensure people received high quality care that enabled positive outcomes. The registered manager stayed up to date with best practice guidance and encouraged continuous learning and improvement. They followed recommended advice and guidance, including in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure they were doing all that was possible to keep people and care staff safe.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 4 July 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the length of time since the service registered with the CQC.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.