The Nurse International Ltd

Updated 30 July 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 28 June 2022 and ended on 06 July 2022. We visited the office location on 28 June 2022. Telephone calls were undertaken to relatives and staff on 04 July 2022.

What we did before the inspection

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

During the inspection

We spoke with one relative of the person supported by this service. We also spoke with two staff, the acting manager and the provider who was also the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included the persons care records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment, supervision and training. We also looked at records that related to the management and quality assurance of the service.

Updated 30 July 2022

About the service

Nurse International Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people who live in their own homes. The service is registered to support people with a variety of needs including dementia, learning disability and physical disabilities. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting one person.

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

Systems and records needed to be formalised and implemented to demonstrate how the quality of the service was monitored. Formal systems needed to be put in place to show how staff performance was monitored and how staff were supported in their role. Records needed to be improved to ensure they were detailed and covered all potential risks and reflected the tasks people needed support with.

People were supported by staff that understood their individual needs and had been trained and understood how to protect people from abuse. Systems were in place to reduce the risk of infection.

People received a consistent and reliable service from staff who were described as caring, friendly and supportive. Staff felt supported in their role. Relatives told us they were happy with the service provided, and they knew who to contact if they had any concerns.

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 - This service was registered with us on 29 September 2015 but did not provide a regulated activity to people in the community until May 2019 and this was the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to the lack of formalised quality assurance systems in place to monitor the service being provided.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

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