Team Locum Limited

Updated 24 May 2022

Background to this inspection

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 regulation associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own home. The service had a registered manager in post who is registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. The inspection was supported by the provider as the manager was not available.

Inspection activity started on 19 April 2022 and ended on 03 May 2022. We visited the location on 20 April 2022.

What we did before the inspection.

We reviewed the information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent to us before the inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send to us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service and five relatives about their experiences of the care provided. We also spoke with five staff, including the operations manager. We reviewed a range of records including care records for five people using the service, medication records and risk assessments that identified risk associated with people’s care. We looked at the recruitment process and procedures for five staff who had recently been recruited. We looked at records relating to the management of the service including audits and monitoring systems. We looked at records relating to training, spot checks and supervision for staff.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 24 May 2022

About the service

Team Locum Limited is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care to people in their own homes and flats. At the time of the inspection there were 15 people using the service.

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 care, hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experiences of using the service and what we found

People were protected from risk of abuse because staff had received training in safeguarding and knew what actions to take to keep people safe. Risks to people had been assessed and were regularly reviewed. People told us they felt safe with the staff who supported them and felt staff were trained. Medicines were managed safely.

People’s risks had been identified and there were clear risk assessments in place to provide staff with current information to enable them to support people safely. Staff were also trained in people’s support needs, for example, people’s medical conditions.

People told us they felt safe and well cared for. All staff were trained in safeguarding and there was a safeguarding policy to provide guidance. Staff wore personal protective requirement (PPE) in line with current government guidance.

People’s care plans, risk assessments and other personal records included details of their interests, personal history, and what support was required.

The provider undertook pre-employment checks on prospective staff to check their suitability to support the people who used the service.

People and their relatives spoke positively about the overall service and the caring approach staff adopted to their work. They were asked for their feedback on the service and knew how to contact the provider as needed. Staff felt valued and supported by the management team and were able to raise any concerns about people’s care. The provider conducted regular audits to review the quality of care provided and how this could be improved.

Rating at last inspection

The service was rated good at their last inspection on 08 April 2019.

Why we inspected

We received concerns that the provider had not followed appropriate procedures in relation to recruitment of staff. As a result of this information we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the rating.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe section of this full report.

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

Follow up

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