My Care Ladies

My Care Ladies is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. 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. At the time of this inspection the service were supporting 13 people with personal care.

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

People and relatives spoke extremely positively about the service they received. We have made a recommendation around the management of people’s care and support records. Prior to our visit, the registered manager had identified changes were needed in the management of people's care records and was in the process of making the required changes.

Safe recruitment practices were followed. However, we did identify a shortfall in regard to one person’s recruitment process. The registered manager took prompt action to ensure this shortfall was corrected. Staff spoke positively about the training they received which they told us was well delivered and of good quality.

We were given many examples that showed people received quality care and support from kind, caring staff that so often went the extra mile to ensure people were kept safe, were happy and felt well cared for.

Staff spoke knowledgably regarding all aspects regarding safeguarding people. Staff had completed safeguarding training and understood their role in identifying and reporting any concerns of potential abuse or poor practice.

Risks were individually assessed and reviewed. Risk assessments covered all areas of people’s health as well as any potential environmental risks. Risk assessments ensured staff were given current guidance and information to enable them to support people safely whilst allowing them to maintain their independence.

People were supported by sufficient numbers of trained, experienced staff to meet people’s needs. People received their support from a small, consistent team of skilled staff that knew people well and delivered their care in ways people preferred.

Staff supported people to take medicines safely. Staff were trained in medicines management and knew how to ensure that people received their medicines on time and as they had been prescribed. Effective relationships had been built with healthcare professionals to ensure safe management of medicines for people.

There were robust procedures in place to ensure people were protected from infections that could affect both staff and people using the service. Staff had completed infection prevention and control training and understood the actions needed to minimise the risk of avoidable harm, including the prevention of avoidable infection. Staff had access to plentiful supplies of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and followed current national guidance regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

People, relatives and staff consistently spoke of the commitment, kindness and approachability of the staff and management team. People felt the service was well led with a strong commitment to providing good person-centred care.

People, relatives, professionals. and staff consistently spoke of the effective and clear communication they had with the service.

Governance systems were in place and any issues were identified, analysed and discussed with staff to enable learning to be achieved from incidents. There was an open, supportive culture that encouraged staff to put forward their ideas for improvement to enable people to receive quality, individualised care that impacted positively on their lives.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 20 November 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management of the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this report. Immediately following the inspection the provider took prompt action to ensure risks for people were mitigated.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for My Care Ladies on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

My Care Ladies is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. 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.

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

People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. Staff knew how to recognise and report abuse and spoke knowledgeably on how to report any concerns raised. People said they felt safe with staff, who were well trained and demonstrated kind, caring and effective care. Staff told us they were given the support and training to ensure they had the necessary skills to support and care for people safely.

We have made three recommendations for the provider. The first regarding the provider implementing a contingency plan to guard against adverse events that could affect the running of the service. The second recommendation is regarding the provider implementing a forward schedule of quality audits to monitor the quality and standard of service provided to people. The third recommendation is regarding the requirement for the provider to complete and return the Provider Information Return.

Care plans were detailed and gave clear explanations for staff on how people preferred their personal care and support to be given. Staff knew people well and understood how they preferred to be supported. Risk assessments were in place to ensure people's safety.

People received care from a small, consistent team of care staff who knew their care and support needs well.

Medicines were managed and administered safely. Staff supported people to take their medicines safely and had received appropriate medicine administration training. There were sufficient numbers of trained, experienced staff to ensure people’s needs were met. Staff were recruited safely; recruitment procedures were in place to ensure the required checks were carried out on staff before they commenced their employment.

People were involved in their care and consulted when planning and agreeing their care and support needs. People felt confident any concerns they raised would be listened to and appropriate action taken.

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 and staff told us the acting manager had an open, honest and supportive approach. The acting manager was readily available to people, relatives and staff to offer advice and guidance when required.

The service had established good working relationships with health and social care professionals.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 3 May 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

My Care Ladies is a small domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection four people were receiving personal care. Visits ranged from half an hour up to two and a half hours. The frequency of visits ranged from one visit per week to four visits per day depending on people’s individual needs.

There was a registered manager in place who was also one of the providers. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The registered manager had a good understanding of their responsibilities for sharing information with CQC and our records told us this was done in a timely manner. People and their families had been given information so that they knew what to expect from the service.

Staff told us that they felt their achievements were recognised and that they felt valued. Staff had a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. We observed staff were confident in performing their jobs.

People who required assistance with their medicines were supported by appropriately skilled and qualified staff. They had received training and competency checks and had a good understanding of the risks associated with the medicine people were taking.

People, their families and other professionals told us they felt the service was safe. Staff had received safeguarding training and had their competencies checked. They were aware of the types of abuse that could happen to people, what signs to look out for and their responsibilities for reporting any concerns.

There were enough staff to meet the needs of the people using the service. Staff had been recruited safely.

People told us that the provider, registered manager and care workers were extremely caring, kind and compassionate and this made them feel valued and cared for.

Staff said they felt supported in their role. Staff told us they received regular supervision and had a yearly appraisal. Supervisions also took place with staff when they were supporting people. They included checking staffs dress code, their knowledge of the people they were supporting and any risks they lived with, health and safety and a check of record keeping.

People were supported by care workers that had a good knowledge of people’s personal histories and who was important to them.

People, their families and other professionals had been involved in a pre-assessment before the service provided any support. The assessment had been used to create care and support plans that addressed people’s individual identified needs. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of the actions they needed to take to support people

People who used the service felt able to express their opinions and views.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and continually improve.