28 April 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Fordingbridge, otherwise known as Hearts at Home Care, is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Not everyone who uses the service receives personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.
Seventeen people were receiving personal care from the service at the time of the inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
There were enough staff for people to have a mostly regular team of staff. People received a weekly rota to say which staff would be visiting when. In the past, staff recruitment checks had not always been rigorous. The service had since remedied most gaps in records, such as missing references. However, we have made a recommendation in relation to recruitment records.
People and relatives told us staff treated them or their family member kindly and respectfully, honouring their preferences and promoting their independence. People’s personal information was kept secure and staff understood the importance of this. We have made a recommendation about the management of confidential images.
Everyone we spoke with said they or their family member felt safe with care staff. Managers and staff understood their role in protecting people from abuse and avoidable harm. Risks to people and staff providing their care were assessed and managed. Although medicines were managed safely, the provider was seeking to improve oversight with a new computerised recording system.
Staff had training in infection prevention and control. People told us staff cleaned their hands. There was a good supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) and staff wore this during visits.
People, relatives and staff talked about the service being family run. Staff and managers talked about people respectfully and compassionately. The registered manager and nominated individual were clear about their responsibilities. They maintained oversight by seeking people’s feedback, spot checks and audits, and regular supervision and informal conversations with staff.
The nominated individual and registered manager recognised the pandemic had adversely affected staff morale. There had been frequent changes in office staff and there were ongoing efforts to recruit suitable replacements. People, relatives and staff voiced that this had been unsettling and sometimes hindered communication. However, staff spoke positively about their work.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 8 January 2020).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to staff recruitment. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, caring 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.
The overall rating for the service has remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. The provider had taken action to reduce the risks and this had been effective. 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 Fordingbridge 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.