Background to this inspection
Updated
30 June 2021
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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was completed by two inspectors. Three Expert by Experience’s telephoned people who used the service and / or their relatives to gain their feedback about the care and support they received. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
The service had a manager 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
This inspection was unannounced. We visited the office location on 24 and 25 May 2021.
What we did before inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with nine people who used the service and 13 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 24 members of staff including the registered manager, care manager, field care supervisors, care co-ordinators and care workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included 10 people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at six staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed.
Updated
30 June 2021
About the service
Medacs Healthcare Old Trafford (Medacs) is a large domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. It provides a service to adults and to children of all ages in Manchester and Trafford. Medacs is also a provider for Trafford Council's Stabilise and Make Safe (SAMS) and Rapid Response projects. SAMS is a three-week service to assess and report on people’s support needs and Rapid Response is a short-term three day service. At the time of our inspection the service was providing care and support to 364 people, making over 7000 care calls each week.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People and relatives said they felt safe and were supported by well trained and caring staff. Assessments and care plans were in place for the support people needed. Risks had been assessed and plans were in place to manage these known risks. People received their medicines as prescribed.
Staff were positive about working for the service. They felt well supported by the management team and all training was up to date. Staff were safely recruited and completed a robust induction programme before starting to support people. Staff knew how to report concerns. The local authority said improvements had been made in reporting and escalating concerns to them.
The registered manager had a range of reports to monitor the service, for example call times. Monthly audits were completed for medicines and daily records. All incidents and complaints were investigated and actions taken to reduce the risk of a re-occurrence. Changes were being made to ensure the management team had the capacity to make spot checks with staff and monitoring calls with people or relatives at the required times.
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.
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 4 June 2018).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating. We had also received concerns about the communication and escalation of changes in people’s needs to the local authority in a timely manner. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe, Effective and well-led only.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Steps had been taken to ensure any changes in people’s needs were communicated to the management teams and escalated as required. Please see the Safe, Effective and Well-led sections of this full report.
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.
The overall rating for the service has remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Medacs Healthcare Old Trafford 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.