Poseidon Care

Poseidon Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides personal care to older people, some of whom have dementia. At the time of our inspection there were eleven people using the service.

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

The provider was not conducting appropriate checks before hiring staff to work. Staff were recruited in Nepal and then travelled to the UK in order to work for the provider. However, we found significant discrepancies in documentation that had been obtained but had not been identified and explored by the provider. Although the provider ensured staff had the training and skills to conduct their roles, care workers told us they did not feel supported. We have made a recommendation to the provider around staff support.

The provider did not promote a positive culture within the service. Care workers expressed concerns about their pay, hours and rotas that we have reported to another statutory body. Staff were not involved in the running of the service, although people were asked for their feedback.

The provider did not always effectively manage risks to people’s health and safety. We found examples where risks to people had not been fully explored. People’s needs and choices were assessed as part of the assessment process, but the provider was not fully considering risks to people’s care. The provider did not fully support people with their healthcare needs as we saw two examples where either people’s conditions were not recorded at all, or there was no clear record of how this affected people’s care needs.

The provider was not consistently safe in the management of people’s medicines. The provider conducted audits, but these did not identify the issues we found in relation to people’s risk assessments and their medicines care plans.

The provider took appropriate action to ensure people were safe from the risk of abuse and took appropriate measures to prevent and control infection. There was also an appropriate system in place to manage accidents and incidents.

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 told us they were well treated and supported and their care records included details of their backgrounds, life histories, ethnicity and religions. People told us they were involved in making decisions about their care and their privacy and dignity was respected and promoted. Care workers encouraged people to maintain their independence as far as possible. People’s care plans included some information about the level of support they needed from their care worker.

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

Rating at last inspection:

We registered this service on 24 November 2021 and this was the first inspection.

Why we inspected

We were prompted to carry out this inspection due to concerns we received about staffing and recruitment. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

Enforcement and recommendations

We have found breaches in relation to appointing fit and proper persons, risk management and good governance.

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

We have made recommendations in relation to providing person- centred care and staff support. We will check if the provider has acted on any recommendations at our next comprehensive inspection.

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.