Authum Care Ltd

Updated 15 July 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 1 inspector.

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 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 manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 20 June 2023 and ended on 5 July 2023. We visited the location’s office/service on 22 June 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We sought feedback from professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. Following the inspection, a PIR was submitted. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, head of care, 2 members of staff, 1 person who used the service and 1 relative. We received feedback from 4 members of staff and reviewed 3 people's care records. We reviewed training records and documents relating to the management of the service including policies and audits.

Updated 15 July 2023

About the service

Authum Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 9 people using the service.

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 had not always been recruited safely; we have made a recommendation relating to this.

The service had enough staff. People were supported with their medicines as prescribed. There were systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuse.

People’s care plans and risk assessments provided staff with guidance to support people safely and meet their individual needs.

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. However, we found capacity assessments did not include the specific decisions being made; we have made a recommendation regarding this.

Staff received an induction and training to enable them to meet people’s needs in line with their preferences. However, they did not have clear guidance relating to first aid. We have made a recommendation relating to this.

Staff provided care and support respectfully whilst promoting people’s independence. People were involved in their care arrangements and able to make decisions about how care was provided.

Staff communicated with people in ways they could understand.

The registered manager had processes to monitor the quality of the service. This included audits and staff spot checks and competency assessments.

We found room for improvement in recording of incidents and the registered manager took action to address this.

People’s relatives spoke positively about the management of the service and staff felt supported by the registered manager.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 27 January 2023 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Recommendations

We have made recommendations in relation to staff recruitment, mental capacity assessments and first aid guidance at this inspection.

Follow up

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