PHOENIX HEALTH KARE

Updated 19 September 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

This 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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. Inspection activity started on 25 July 2023 and ended on 17 August 2023. We visited the location’s office on 25 July and 14 August 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we received about the service since the last inspection. 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. 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. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the site visit we spoke with the registered manager, who was also the nominated individual. We also spoke with the deputy manager and 1 care worker. We looked at 2 care plans to ensure these reflected people’s needs.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the service to validate evidence found. This included quality assurance and training records. We spoke with 2 people who received this service to discuss their experience. We also spoke with a further care worker.

Updated 19 September 2023

About the service

Phoenix Health Kare is a domiciliary care service which provides care in people’s own homes. At the time of our inspection, 2 people were receiving a 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

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 anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

Right Support:

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 support this practice. The recording of consent, mental capacity assessments and best interests decisions were not in place to support decisions made on people’s behalf.

Right Care:

People were not safely supported with their medicines as 2 people had gaps in their medication administration records which could not be adequately explained. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse and said they would report these to a manager.

People were supported by staff who were motivated to provide effective care. Staff understood people’s care needs and their preferences. Feedback from people showed they were happy with the way they received care and support. One person confirmed staff maintained their privacy and dignity.

Right Culture:

Care records and risk assessments had not been updated since they were created in April 2022. The management team and staff understood people’s needs, although details were not reflected in care planning records. Some improvements were made by day 2 of our inspection.

Systems of governance were not effective as issues found at this inspection had not been identified through quality checks. Some checks were being carried out, but not recorded. The management team shared examples where they had gone above and beyond the assessed needs of people receiving this service.

We have made a recommendation about the provider referring to current guidance on which events are reportable to the Care Quality Commission.

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 29 June 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

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

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to the safe management of medicines, capacity and consent and systems to demonstrate oversight.

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

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

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 work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.