Archived: Two Counties Community Care Limited - Essex

We found that the reviews undertaken and care plans created did not reflect people's needs in sufficient detail. We noted that many of the live in care packages had been reviewed; however some concerns around the management of those plans remained. We remained concerned with regard to the overall management and care provided to people who received domiciliary care packages.

People were not protected from the risk of harm because scheduled visits were often late, we also found that eight people had missed visits since our last inspection which placed them at risk of harm. Therefore we were not assured people's needs were being met.

We identified incidents where the provider had failed to respond appropriately to allegations of abuse. We also found that the provider had failed to provide safe care to children.

We found that the service was not well led. Overall we found evidence that supported that there has been a systemic failure of the service. The service was not effective in evidencing that safe care was provided to people who used the services.

Whilst we found some evidence of improvement since our last inspection with regard to the 'live in' care packages provided to people. We remained concerned with regard to the overall management and care provided to people who received domiciliary care packages.

People were not protected from the risk of harm because scheduled visits were often late and some were missed. Also many people in the domiciliary service had not had their care needs reviews. Therefore we were not assured people's needs were being met.

We were not assured that staff were supported to raise concerns. We received several whistleblowing concerns about the service prior to and during our inspection; the majority of concerns raised were validated by the inspection.

We found leadership in the service had been affected by several organisational changes in a short period of time. The organisational changes and evidence seen throughout the inspection confirmed that the live in service was well led however the domiciliary service was not being managed effectively. Both services were not effective in evidencing that safe care was provided to people who used the service.

Where areas of non-compliance have been identified during inspection they are being followed up and we will report on any action when it is complete.

People were not protected from the risk of harm because care plans for specific conditions or needs were not in place. This meant that we were not assured people's needs were being met.

We found that care was mostly provided in a caring manner, with people reporting that the carers were kind. One person told us, 'They go out of their way for you.'

We found that complaints were not well responded to and responses did not satisfy people's concerns. Complaints investigations we viewed did not always identify the cause or learning factors that needed to be shared with staff.

Staff were not supported or encouraged to raise concerns internally about the service. We received several whistleblowing concerns about the service prior to our inspection; the majority of concerns raised were validated by the inspection.

We found leadership in the service had been affected by several organisational changes in a short period of time. The organisational changes and evidence seen throughout the inspection did not support this service was well led.

Where areas of non-compliance have been identified during inspection they are being followed up and we will report on any action when it is complete.

We spent time with the manager looking at the outcomes of recent safeguarding concerns and complaints made about the service. We found that they had taken appropriate action to respond to complaints and had worked with the relevant authorities when responding to allegations of abuse. We spoke with four staff, three at the inspection and one person over the phone. All four staff were positive about their experience of working within the company, they told us they had received training that was appropriate to their roles and felt supported by the manager and the coordinators.