Genuine Carers - Oxford City

Updated 23 October 2020

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.

This was a focused inspection to check whether the provider had met the actions of the requirement notice in relation to Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) and Regulation 17 (Good governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection activity was completed by one inspector and an Expert by Experience (ExE). An EXE 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 two managers 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 service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered managers would be in the office to support the inspection. The inspection activity commenced on 7 August 2020 and we carried out a site inspection on 17 September 2020.

What we did before the 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 spoke with the provider and requested a range of documentation relating to the safety and management of the service and training data. We looked at 10 people’s care records. The ExE spoke with 11people and six relatives by telephone. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

On the day of the inspection, we spoke with both registered managers and a care coordinator. We spoke with four members of staff and the provider. We followed up information we had reviewed whilst planning the inspection. We also reviewed seven medicine administration records and ten care plans.

After the inspection:

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We received feedback from four staff on their views about the service. We discussed our initial findings via a teleconference call on 22 September with both registered managers and on 25 September with the provider.

Updated 23 October 2020

About the service

Genuine Carers is a domiciliary care agency (DCA). The service provides personal care services to people in their own homes or people in supported living arrangements. At the time of our inspection 28 people received personal care as the regulated activity.

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

Some people’s care records were lacking in guidance for staff on reducing the risks associated with

people's on-going health needs. Although Improvements had been made since the last inspection in relation to governance and systems., there were still shortfalls in relation to quality monitoring.

The provider had made improvements since the last inspection. Medicines were managed safely and in line with guidance.

People were protected against the employment of unsuitable staff because the registered managers followed safe recruitment policies and procedures. People were protected from potential abuse by staff who had received training and were confident in raising concerns.

Rating at last inspection and update:

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 8 June 2019) and there were two breaches of 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:

We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions of Safe and Well-led which contained the previous breaches.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has not changed from Requires Improvement. 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 Genuine Carers Oxford 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. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.