Croft Healthcare Ltd

Updated 23 May 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

This inspection was conducted by one 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 sheltered accommodation.

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 was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

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

Inspection activity started on 25 April and ended on 9 May. We visited the location’s office on 26 April 2023.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service including information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law. We requested feedback from other stakeholders. These included the local authorities safeguarding teams, commissioning teams and Healthwatch Leeds and Wakefield. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection, we spoke with three relatives of people using the service. We spoke with five staff members; this included care workers, the registered manager and development manager.

We looked at care records for three people using the service including medicine administration records. We looked at training, recruitment and supervision records for staff. We also reviewed various policies and procedures and the quality assurance and monitoring systems of the service.

Updated 23 May 2023

About the service

Croft Healthcare is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults living in their own home. During our inspection visit, the service was caring for 30 people.

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

Relatives were positive about staff and told us the service provided safe care to their loved ones. However, during this inspection, we found some aspects of the service had not always been managed safely.

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. However, the provider needed to improve the recording of relevant discussions and decisions about the care of people who lacked capacity to make decisions.

Quality assurance measures in place had not always been effective in identifying or addressing the issues found during this inspection.

Most areas of staff recruitment were safe, however, we found evidence confirming staff had started working before the required DBS checks had been completed. We have made a recommendation for the provider to review this area. The provider was not always recording when equipment used to move people had passed the relevant safety checks. This was discussed during the inspection, and immediate action taken.

Overall, medication was managed safely but there were some aspects were recording of medication support was not in line with the provider’s medication policy and good practice guidance.

Although staff had the necessary skills, training and support to carrying out their jobs safely and effectively at the time of the inspection, we reviewed evidence showing staff had started working without completing all the mandatory training.

People received support to maintain good nutrition and hydration and their healthcare needs were met. The provider kept in close contact with relevant healthcare professionals.

Most care plans were detailed, and person centred. Complaints were well managed by the service.

We received positive feedback about the management team being approachable and responsive. During this inspection, they were receptive to the inspection’s findings and acted on the issues identified or told us the actions they would take.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

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

This service was registered with us on 15 February 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

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

Enforcement and Recommendations

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 monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified a breach in relation to good governance at this inspection.

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

Follow up

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