Homedotcare Limited

Updated 2 February 2023

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 carried out by two inspectors, a pharmacist specialist 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. They made calls to people using the service and their relatives to ask their views on the 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service short notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included complaints and safeguarding alerts. We sought feedback from the local authority professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who used the service and 10 relatives of people using the service about their experience of the care provided. We looked at the feedback that people using the service gave to the service. We spoke with 16 members of staff including the registered manager, general manager, medication/compliance manager, care coordinator, 3 field care supervisors, and 4 care workers in person. We also spoke with 5 care workers on the telephone.

We reviewed a range of records including 6 people's care records (assessments, care plans, risk assessments, daily records of care provided and call records). We checked 6 people’s medicine records. We checked medicines governance records and staff medicines training records. We looked at staff files in relation to recruitment, training and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, complaints and audits were also reviewed. We also reviewed the service’s electronic call monitoring records for 57 people for 1 month.

Updated 2 February 2023

HomeDot Care Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 152 people using the service.

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

Staff did not always arrive on time for their calls and stay the agreed time. Staff recruitment had not always ben consistently robust.

People and their relatives told us that most staff were kind and caring. Risks associated with people’s health and care needs were assessed and written guidance was available for staff on how to keep people safe.

People received their medicines safely as prescribed. This was an area which had improved since the last inspection.

Staff had a good understanding of how to recognise and to prevent pressure ulcers and how to raise concerns if they felt a person was being abused. The service gave staff booklets on these topics to ensure they had information to hand to tell them what to do. The service understood the importance of infection prevention and control and had measures in place to help keep people safe from risk of infection.

The service monitored the safety of people who were particularly vulnerable. Care workers were trained for their role. They told us they felt supported by the service.

People were supported with meals and to access other services such as health services. 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.

People and their relatives were generally happy with the support they received from this service and had been involved in the planning and delivery of care. The service checked regularly whether people were satisfied. The service learned from incidents and mistakes and made continuous improvements.

There was some good personcentred practice, examples included a food and cleaning supplies bank, activity library and birthday and Christmas gifts for people who had no family.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 16 November 2021). The provider completed an action plan 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

The inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. The inspection was also prompted in part by notification of an incident following which a person using the service died. This incident is subject to a criminal investigation and as a result this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risk and emergencies and management of medicines. This inspection examined those risks.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe and well-led key questions of this full report. The provider had taken action to mitigate the risks.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for HomeDot Care Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Recommendations

We made two recommendations relating to staffing. One was to ensure the timeliness of care calls and the other was to ensure recruitment checks are robust at all times.

Follow up

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