Community Care Direct, Shakespeare Street, Southport
CQC carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
The report also says: “We carried out an unannounced inspection of this domiciliary care agency on 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 November 2015, 4 and 18 December 2015. The inspection team comprised of two Adult Social Care Inspectors and an Inspection Manager. A follow-up visit was undertaken on 18 December 2015 to check that the service had put in place what we requested to ensure people were safe.
“Prior to the inspection we gathered information from the Local Authority who had received a Safeguarding referral. Following a whistleblowing alert we spoke to two staff members who were raising concerns but no longer work in the service.
“The Continuing Health Care service who commission Community Care Direct Limited to provide a service were also contacted.
“Before the inspection we had not asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return due to the limited time between planning the inspection and undertaking the inspection. The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
“We did however, collate the concerns raised including whistleblowing’s since July 2015, when the service was last inspected.
“We looked at 15 care plans some of which were in the Community Care Direct office and some were in people’s homes.
“Four people who used the service were visited in their own homes and we spoke to eight people who used the service by telephone.
“We spoke with two health care professionals.
“We spoke with eight members of staff out of the 45 staff members working in the service at the time of our inspection”.
Is the service safe?
The service is not always safe.
We found the systems in place to safeguard people were not keeping people safe.
Some staff lacked safeguarding and manual handling training.
People with complex health care needs did not have emergency procedures in their home for staff to act promptly and appropriately in the event of an emergency. Risk assessments were basic and not person centred and in some cases risk assessments/plans were absent.
The recruitment checks in place were not robust to protect people from potential harm or abuse.
Is the service effective?
The service is not always effective.
Staff were not receiving supervision or appraisals.
Staff who had recently started had not had an induction. There was no management of their induction to ensure that they were trained and safe to work with people.
Consent to care was not routinely obtained. One person who had no means of communication due to mental impairment did not have a mental capacity assessment to demonstrate carers are acting in her best interests.
Is the service caring?
The service was not always caring.
Staff were not always providing care for the duration of the call, leaving the person’s home earlier than planned.
People were not included in their care planning. People informed us the times of their calls were changed without any consultation.
Is the service responsive?
The service was not always responsive.
The system in place for receiving, handling and responding to complaints was not robust.
Some people reported concerns and saw improvements but other people often reported the same complaint.
People’s care plans contained information about the person’s care requirements but lacked information about the person’s background, likes or dislikes, wishes or aspirations.
Is the service well-led?
The service was not well led.
There had not been a registered manager in post for over a year. A new manager has been employed in the service whilst we were undertaking our inspection.
We found no written record made of telephone calls received during evenings and weekends that needed to be actioned by the ‘on call’ person.
Read the full report here.
Submit News Contact us with your community, business or sport news. Phone 07581350321
Email ots@otsnews.co.uk
Facebook www.facebook.com/otsnews.co.uk
Twitter www.twitter.com/onthespot_news
Breaking local news as it happens, searchable archives with photographs, the ability to instantly comment on news articles – there are so many advantages to OTS (Onthespot) News.
If you want your news read locally online then send it to ots@otsnews.co.uk – relying only on the newspaper is to restrict yourself to an ever reducing audience.
OTS News on Social Media