Profad Care Agency Limited

Updated 8 March 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing.

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 9 January and ended on 11 January 2023. We visited the location’s office on 9 January 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection to help plan the inspection. We sought feedback from Derby City's Adult Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Team and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 5 people and 1 relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 8 staff members this included 4 care staff, a care coordinator, 2 field care supervisors, and the quality assurance manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including staff training information, and policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 8 March 2023

About the service

Profad Care Agency Limited is a domiciliary care service providing care to people living in their own homes so they can live as independently as possible. The service provides support with personal care to people living with dementia, people with a learning disability, autistic people, people with mental health support needs, older people, people living with a physical disability and sensory impairment. At the time of our inspection there were 35 people using the service, 33 people received support with 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

Safe recruitment processes were not always followed. Appropriate references were not consistently sought and gaps in staff employment history were not always explored and documented. People were not consistently notified about changes to their rota, so didn’t always know who would be coming to support them. Quality assurance systems had not identified this issue therefore action had not been taken to make improvements.

Care plans and risk assessments were in place to help guide staff how to reduce risks and promote safe care. There were systems to ensure safeguarding concerns were identified and reported. Staff knew how to keep people safe from the risk of infection including COVID-19, risk assessments were in place to reduce risks. Medicines were administered in line with people's care plans. Information on medicines in care plans was regularly reviewed and up to date, to support people to remain safe and well.

Assessment processes helped to inform people's care plans and people using the service were involved in this. Advice and guidance from health and social care professionals, to help provide people with effective care, were included in people’s care plans. Staff were provided with training relevant to people's needs. People were provided with relevant nutritional support where this was part of their care.

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 received care from friendly and caring staff. Staff understood how to promote people's independence and respect their privacy and dignity. People's diverse needs and choices were respected. People were listened to and involved in their care decisions.

People received personalised care and their choices were respected. Staff knew the people they cared for and provided responsive care. People were supported with communication needs. Care was provided in a way that helped to reduce social isolation and promoted people's relationships with others. People were able to provide feedback or raise complaints which were listened to and responded to.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

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 11 July 2022) 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 11 July 2022. 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

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Profad Care Services Limited (Derby) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.