We carried out a review of the data available to us about Excell Home Care Limited on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Excell Home Care Limited, you can give feedback on this service.
Excell Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own home. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. The agency office is based in the Mosborough area of Sheffield. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care for
approximately 104 people. 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 we spoke with told us they felt safe and did not express any concerns about their safety.
At our last inspection we found the risk assessments for specific health conditions needed improving. For example, people who had diabetes. At this inspection we found action had been taken to ensure a risk assessment was undertaken for people’s specific health conditions.
Safeguarding procedures were robust and staff understood how to safeguard people.
Systems were in place to make sure managers and staff learnt from events such as incidents, concerns and investigations.
At our last inspection we found the provider did not have adequate systems in place to ensure the safe handling, administration and recording of medicines to keep people safe. We saw action had been taken by the provider to ensure medicines were managed safely at the service.
People we spoke with were satisfied with the quality care provided by the service. Some people told us they would just like their calls to be delivered consistently on time. They thought the service needed more staff to cover for unexpected staff absence so the support workers did not have to complete extra calls. We shared this feedback with the registered manager. They told us they were actively recruiting staff and we saw evidence of this at the inspection. The registered manager told us they would monitor the delivery of people’s call times so people experienced continuity of care.
The provider completed pre-employment checks for new staff, to check they were suitable to work at the service.
Staff received a range of training and support relevant to their role. Staff told us they felt fully supported and listened to. People were confident care workers had received appropriate training to meet their needs.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Support workers understood the importance of respecting people’s diverse needs and promoting independence.
People told us support staff were respectful and treated them in a caring and supportive way.
Most people we spoke with felt confident they could raise any concerns with the office based staff and those concerns would be taken seriously. We saw complaints were managed in line with the provider’s complaints procedure.
We found the quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality and the safety of the service had been improved since the last inspection.
Rating at last inspection:
At our last inspection Excell Home Care Limited was rated requires improvement (report published 11 September 2018) and we found two breaches of the regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected:
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up:
We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.
The last comprehensive inspection took place in June 2017 when the service was rated requires improvement. The service was found to be in breach of three regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. These breaches were in relation to care records that contained unexplained gaps and the quality assurance systems were not robust and there was not an established system in place for identifying, recording, handling and responding to complaints. The overall rating for the service at that time was requires improvement.
Following the last inspection the provider sent a report of the actions they would take to meet the legal requirements of these regulations. We checked whether these regulations had been met as part of this comprehensive inspection.
At this inspection, we found evidence to show improvements had been made in responding to complaints. However, we found continued breaches of regulations 12: Safe care and treatment and regulation 17: Good governance. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.
Excell Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. The agency office is based in the Mosborough area of Sheffield. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care for approximately 67 people.
Not everyone using Excell Homecare receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.
There was a registered manager on the day of our inspection. 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 provider did not have adequate systems to ensure the safe handling, administration and recording of medicines to keep people safe.
People told us about their experiences of receiving care from Excell Care Limited and gave positive feedback.
Staff we spoke with told us how dignity and care underpinned their work.
Staff were provided with relevant induction and training to make sure they had the right skills and knowledge for their role. Staff understood their role and what was expected of them. They were happy in their work, motivated and confident in the way the service was managed.
The service followed the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) Code of practice and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). In most cases people had given their consent to their care and support, although we discussed with the provider some areas this could be strengthened.
Staff had a good knowledge of their safeguarding responsibilities.
People had access to a range of health care professionals to help maintain their health. A varied and nutritious diet was provided to people that considered dietary needs and preferences so that health was promoted and choices could be respected.
Peoples care and support was monitored so that the provider could respond to any changes, altering care packages as required to ensure people’s needs were met.
People using the service and/ or their relatives had been asked their opinion via questionnaires. The results of these had been audited to identify any areas for improvement.
Individual aspects of the service were monitored however there was no overarching assessment of quality in place which meant that some shortfalls were not identified.
Excell Home Care Limited provides care and support to people in their own homes.
There was a manager at the service who was in the process of registering with CQC. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Some people were supported to take their medicines. We found medicine administration records were not always signed by staff to confirm the medicine had been given. This could put a person’s health and wellbeing at risk.
Risk assessments were not always in place which would help to reduce or eliminate the risk of a person becoming harmed.
People told us they felt safe in the support and care of the staff who worked for Excell Home Care.
Staff understood their responsibility with regard to safeguarding and said they would raise any concerns with managers.
Recruitment checks were in place for the safe recruitment of new staff. These checks were undertaken to make sure staff were suitable to work with people who used the service.
People were supported by staff that had received regular training. Staff told us the training and management support provided them with the knowledge and skills to carry out their jobs.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the registered provider’s policies and systems supported this practice.
People were positive about the care staff and said they received appropriate, consistent support from caring and kind staff. When we spoke with staff they understood the importance of people being supported to make decisions for themselves. Staff liaised with healthcare professionals at the appropriate time to help monitor and maintain people's health and wellbeing.
There was not an established system in place for identifying, recording, handling and responding to complaints.
Each person had a care plan in their home. The care plans seen required more person centred information to ensure people’s individual needs were identified and the care provided met their personal preferences.
We identified the audit systems to check such things as medicines and care plans were not robust enough to effectively act upon risk in order to demonstrate compliance with regulations.
We found three breaches in the regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. These were breaches in regulation 12: Safe care and treatment, regulation 16: Complaints and regulation 17: Good governance.
You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.