Background to this inspection
Updated
9 December 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.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by an inspector, a medicines inspector, an assistant inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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 did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. However, the current manager had submitted their application to be the registered manager at this 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.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or branch manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 11 November 2020 and ended on 18 November 2020. We visited the office location on 17 and 18 November 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 and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with nine people who used the service and eight relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 13 members of staff including the manager, area manager, head of governance, senior care workers and care workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included 10 people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and nine staff supervision and training records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and electronic recording data of home visits.
Updated
9 December 2020
About the service
Premier Care Halton is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to 414 people at the time of the inspection.
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's experience of using the service was mostly positive. People were happy with the staff who visited them and felt safe with the support they provided. People received visits from regular staff most of the time. However, some people were unhappy about the different staff who visited them. Some did not have a regular care worker.
People spoke positively about the staff. Their comments included, "They are all nice; kind, caring and good hearted", and "They do a good job and are friendly; they treat [name]well” and “We’ve had our ups and downs but the staff do the care how [name] wants it”.
Staff had received additional training for infection control because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They had a regular supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, aprons and people told us staff always wore this.
People using the service and staff were involved in the development of their care through regular reviews meetings and surveys. The latest survey showed that people were mostly satisfied with their care, with dissatisfaction being about the lack of regular staff they saw.
Staff had been recruited safely. There were sufficient numbers of staff employed to support people. Staff received regular training and support.
Staff told us they enjoyed working for the service. The management team completed regular quality audits and where actions were identified these were addressed to bring about improvements. The service worked effectively with the local authority and healthcare commissioners.
Rating at last inspection and update: The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 24 April 2020) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 10 February 2020. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment, effective care and good governance.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they 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 Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.
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 changed from Requires Improvement to 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 Premier Care - Halton 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.