Baobab Social Care Ltd - Somerset

Baobab Social Care Ltd is a domiciliary service providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides personal care to people living in their own houses or flats who required support due to needs relating to their age or living with physical disabilities. 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. At the time of our inspection there were 20 people using the service receiving support with personal care.

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

Risks to people being supported had not been identified and assessed appropriately. People did not have personal risk assessments relevant to their particular needs. Potential risks and hazards within people's homes had not been identified and no risk assessments were in place.

Care planning needed significant improvement. Some plans had not been completed at all, despite care having started. Others were partially completed but still did not contain all of the important information for staff to be able to provide care and support the way each individual wished for.

The service was relatively new and management systems and structures were still being developed or had been planned but not yet started. The quality assurance process was still in its infancy. There were no regular, planned checks or formal audits being carried out, other than an infection control audit.

People were protected from the risk of abuse by staff who knew what to look out for and how to report concerns. Safeguarding alerts had been raised appropriately and relevant professionals consulted when required.

People, and their relatives, told us staff treated people with compassion and respect. Staff arrived on time, stayed the duration expected, and had built good relationships with people.

People were supported by staff who had been recruited safely and were appropriately trained.

Staff made sure people were eating and drinking enough; they encouraged people to have a balanced diet, but respected the choices people made.

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 knew who they could talk to if they needed to raise any concerns or make a formal complaint. Any issues were usually dealt with informally and resolved quickly.

People and their relatives were positive about the service and the positive impact on people’s lives.

Staff told us they felt valued and supported by the provider and staff were happy working for the service.

The registered manager and care manager were both honest and open throughout the inspection process. They were keen to learn and very receptive to any advice or guidance given.

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 14 December 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.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe, responsive and well led sections of this full report.

The provider had taken action to mitigate some risks. People could tell staff what care they needed. Staff knew people well and understood what care they needed, despite a lack of care plans. A care manager had been recruited to create a ‘management team’; they had already started to review and improve the service. The provider’s oversight of the service was being improved to ensure people received safe and effective care and staff were well supported.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to risk management, care planning and governance at this 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.