Archived: Digital Home Visits -TCB - Basingstoke

Vida Basingstoke is a domiciliary care service, providing personal care to people living in Basingstoke and the surrounding area. On the day of the inspection 16 people were receiving the regulated activity of 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 overall were satisfied with the care provided. People’s feedback included, “The service is very good and I would recommend this company” and “I am very happy with the carers: they are very helpful and very polite.” People provided mixed feedback about the leadership of the service and some people felt some aspects could be further improved.

The provider ensured people received their medicines safely from trained staff. Processes were in place to ensure potential risks to people were identified, assessed and managed. People’s daily records were accurate, complete and available. Staff were recruited safely and pre-employment checks completed. People were supported by suitable staff to enable them to stay safe and meet their needs. The provider had processes and practices in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. Processes were in place to manage infection control risks arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

People’s needs were assessed and their care and treatment was planned and delivered to achieve effective outcomes. Staff received an induction to their role and ongoing supervision of their work. People were supported to eat and drink. Staff ensured people were supported to meet their healthcare needs and referrals were made to relevant professionals as required.

Staff treated people with kindness and compassion. Staff supported people to express their views and to be involved in decisions about their care. People’s privacy and dignity and independence were respected and promoted.

People received personalised care which reflected their needs. The provider had processes in place for people to raise any complaints. Staff were able to support people with end of life care as required.

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. We have made a recommendation about how staff record people’s verbal consent to their care.

Processes were in place to monitor the quality of the service and to seek the views of both people and staff. The provider and the registered manager both understood the short-term staffing risks to the service over the summer holidays and had taken action to ensure people received their care as planned. The provider had worked openly with external agencies about staffing issues. The registered manager was working to build a positive culture within the service.

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

Rating at last inspection

The first inspection of this service focused on two key areas, safe and well-led, an overall rating was not provided (published 22 April 2021). There were three breaches of regulations. Two Warning Notices were issued in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance and a requirement notice for requirements relating to workers.

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 was registered with us on 10/11/2020 and this is the first overall rating inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection and to provide an overall rating for the service.

You can read the report from our last inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Vida Basingstoke on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

Vida Basingstoke is a domiciliary care service, providing personal care to people living in Basingstoke and the surrounding area.

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. On the day of the site visit, six people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People did not have complete and robust written care plans, risk assessments, medicines care plans or records of their care provided, to guide and inform staff. Feedback from relatives included, “Without a record, we haven't a clue if something has not been done.” People told us care had been provided, this was confirmed by staff and the records available. People and their relatives told us staff understood the risks associated with the delivery of care and used any moving and handling equipment required safely. The written records required to direct staff and demonstrate the care provided to people were incomplete.

The provider could not demonstrate commissioners had always been informed of incidents, which had the potential to impact people’s health or welfare. There were now sufficient staff employed, but some people’s care calls had been cancelled. Feedback included, “There were issues at the start with several calls being cancelled.” The provider had not always ensured all of the required staff pre-employment checks had been completed. The provider’s infection control processes were not always fully robust.

The provider had not ensured processes were used effectively to monitor regulatory requirements, assess quality and drive improvements in the service. There had been ongoing issues with the operation of the new electronic records system. Following the site visit, the registered manager informed us of the actions they had taken to address the issues we identified with people’s risk assessments, care plans, medicines records, daily records and operation of the care call monitoring system. To ensure this information was now documented and available.

The culture of the service was not always open and transparent. There was a limited approach to sharing information with external partners. The registered manager did not have sufficient staffing resources to enable them to carry out their role effectively. Since the site visit, we have been informed an additional office role has been advertised. The registered manager and the provider were responsive to the verbal feedback provided at the site visit and immediately undertook actions to start to address the issues identified. These included addressing the issues with the electronic recording system, which meant staff could complete people’s records. They also reviewed and re-wrote people’s risk assessments and care plans.

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 10 November 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to hoisting, staffing, infection prevention control and management support. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

The provider has taken actions to mitigate the risks identified at our site visit. It will take time for them to be able to demonstrate they are effective and the changes embedded.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, staff pre-employment checks and governance of the service at this inspection. Warning notices were served upon the provider and the registered manager in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance.

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

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.