Crisis North

Updated 28 September 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 2 inspectors and 2 Experts by Experience, who supported the inspection remotely by speaking to people that used the service and their relatives. 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

Crisis North is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in own homes.

Registered Manager

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 were 2 registered managers in post.

Notice of inspection

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

Inspection activity started on 23 June and ended on 17 August 2023. We visited the location’s office on 23 June 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since registering. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 people who used the service and 12 relatives about their experiences of the care provided. We spoke with 12 members of staff including the registered managers, nominated individual, office staff and care workers. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We received written feedback from 3 social care professionals who regularly worked with the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 5 people’s care records and multiple medicines records. We look at 4 staff files in relation to staff recruitment and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality assurance documents, training information and a sample of the provider’s policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 28 September 2023

About the service

Crisis North is a domiciliary care service providing personal care. The service provides short-term support to assess people’s needs to prevent hospital admissions, discharge people from hospital or following crisis situations. The service provides support to people with a range of needs, at the time of our inspection, they were mostly supporting older people, people with physical disabilities and people with mental health needs. The service works across North and West Lancashire. At the time of our inspection there were 44 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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 felt safe with the support they received from care staff. Staff had received training in safeguarding and knew how to respond to manage risks to people. People received their medicines as prescribed. Improvements were needed to medicines systems to support their safe use.

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.

Staff and people worked together to assess and plan people’s care and support. People’s care records were not always detailed and did not always reflect people’s involvement. We made a recommendation about this. People were supported by staff who had training to support them. We made a recommendation about staff training.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not provide 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.

Feedback from people and their relatives consistently demonstrate staff had a kind, caring approach to providing their support. People felt their needs were understood by staff, who encouraged them to gain confidence and independence.

People’s care was designed to help them achieve their aims and goals. People and their relatives had opportunities to provide feedback on the service.

The provider had quality assurance systems in place and had identified some areas for improvement. These systems were not fully developed or embedded to support the delivery of high-quality care. We have made a recommendation about this.

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 May 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Recommendations

We have made recommendations about people’s care and support records and their access to these, staff training and the provider’s quality assurance systems.

Follow up

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