One to One Community Care

Updated 21 July 2022

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 Act.

Inspection team

This inspection was completed by an 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.

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 the provider would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 26 May 2022 and ended on 27 May 2022. We visited the location’s office on 26 May 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 four people who used the service and seven relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three members of staff and the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff support. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 21 July 2022

About the service

One to One Community Care is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care to older people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection there were 13 people using the service.

Not everyone who uses a domiciliary care service receives personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. Personal care is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people do receive personal care, we also consider any wider social care provided to them.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People using the service and their relatives were very happy with the care and support they received. It met their needs and was tailored to their preferences. People, their relatives and staff all felt the service was well-organised and well-run. The provider was highly involved in each person’s care. However, the provider’s governance and quality assurance systems needed to be improved to ensure all aspects of the service were robustly assessed and monitored.

People’s medicines were not managed safely. People’s medicines records did not contain enough information to ensure people received their medicines as prescribed. The provider confirmed they would address this as a priority. Staff were aware of their responsibility to keep people safe and safeguard them from abuse. There were systems in place to protect people from the spread of infections.

People were supported by a small staff team, who knew them well. Staff turned up on time and delivered the care people needed during each care visit, whilst respecting people’s routines and preferences. People told us staff were very kind, caring and compassionate. People and their relatives were involved in making decisions about their care.

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. However, the policies and systems in the service did not always support this practice.

Staff were supported by the provider to develop the right skills for their roles. People and their relatives told us staff appeared to be well trained and staff told us they were very well supported. However, some of the provider’s systems and processes designed to ensure staff remained competent and skilled had not been completed.

People knew how to complain if they needed to and people’s feedback was regularly obtained by the provider. However, people’s feedback was not always recorded to ensure it could be used as part of a quality assurance system to improve the service.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 9 January 2018). This rating was awarded when the service was based at a different address.

Why we inspected

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

Enforcement

We have identified a breach of regulation in relation to safe care and treatment, specifically in respect of the management of medicines. We have also identified a breach of regulation in respect of the provider’s governance and quality assurance systems.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.