The Care Quality Commission
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  • Homecare service

Infinity Care Limited

Overall: Inadequate read more about inspection ratings

Unit 38, Basepoint Business Centre & Industrial Estate, Caxton Close, Andover, SP10 3FG (01264) 363090

Provided and run by:
Infinity Care Limited

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile

All Inspections

26 April 2023

During an inspection looking at part of the service

About the service

Infinity Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes through live-in and domiciliary care. At the time of our inspection there were 23 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

The provider did not always identify risks to people’s health and safety. When risk assessments were completed, they did not always include clear measures to reduce risks to people. This exposed people to a risk of avoidable harm.

The provider did not have effective systems and processes in place to ensure people were protected from the risk of abuse and improper treatment. The provider did not complete robust investigations to allegations of abuse or identify potential abuse and improper treatment. However, people and relatives told us they felt safe with staff.

Medicines were not managed safely. Safe staff recruitment practices were not always followed to ensure staff were suitable to work with people. The provider did not identify learning or areas for improvement when things went wrong, to reduce the risk of future incidents.

People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. Best practice guidance was not used to inform care plans. Staff felt they had enough training, however they did not receive training for people’s individual needs, such as diabetes or catheter care.

Staff told us they felt supported and received regular feedback. People were encouraged to eat and drink, and staff were aware of their preferences. The provider was not always consistent when supporting people to access healthcare services and support.

The provider did not understand the regulatory requirements and was not aware of relevant legislation. There were no robust systems and processes to assess and monitor safety and quality, which meant concerns weren’t identified and people were at risk of receiving unsafe care. Policies did not reflect current legislation or best practice. We have made a recommendation about this.

Despite the concerns we found, it was clear the provider and staff team cared about the people they supported. We received good feedback from people and relatives about staff and management.

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 5 September 2018).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management and reporting of incidents and safeguarding concerns, handling of complaints, robust management oversight and whether the provider was supporting people in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe, effective and well-led sections of this full report.

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

Enforcement and recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to risk management, medicines management, safeguarding, recruitment, governance, consent, notification of incidents and complaints. We have made a recommendation about duty of candour.

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 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.

Special Measures

The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.

For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.

13 August 2018

During a routine inspection

The inspection took place on 13 August 2018 and was announced.

The last inspection of Infinity Care Limited took place on 18 and 20 August 2015 and rated the service as good.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults, younger disabled adults, people who have sensory impairments, and people living with dementia and other physical and mental health conditions. At the time of our inspection the agency was providing care and support to 37 people in Andover and surrounding area including live-in carers across the country.

Not everyone using Infinity Care Limited receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care' help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People's medicines were safely managed, staff were trained and their competency assessed before being able to administer medicines.

People were protected from harm by thorough risk assessments of their environment, care to be delivered and specific health conditions.

Before using equipment in people’s homes, the provider checked to ensure it was safe to use and had been serviced.

Staff received training and regular updates to ensure they could recognise signs and symptom of possible abuse in the people they cared for.

The provider ensured that staff had sufficient appropriated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to minimise the risk of cross-infection.

People's nutritional needs were met, the provider linked with healthcare professionals if they had concerns and staff were trained to safely prepare meals.

Staff were respectful and caring and maintained people’s privacy and dignity at all times.

The management structure was clear and we received positive feedback about both care staff and the management team.

18 and 20 August 2015

During a routine inspection

This inspection was announced and took place on the 18 and 20 August 2015.

Infinity Care is an agency which provides personal care and support to people who live in their own homes in Andover and the immediate surrounding areas. People who receive this service include those living with dementia and people with disabilities such as multiple sclerosis. At the time of the inspection the agency was providing personal care to 46 people. Care was provided by both carers who lived with people in their own homes when providing their care and domiciliary care workers. Domiciliary care is where care workers visit people in their homes to provide them with personal care.

Infinity Care has a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People using the service told us they felt safe. Care workers understood and followed guidance to enable them to recognise and address any safeguarding concerns about people.

People’s safety was promoted because risks that may cause them harm in their home had been identified and managed. People were supported by care workers who encouraged them to remain independent. Appropriate risk assessments were in place to keep people safe.

Robust recruitment procedures were in place to protect people from unsuitable staff. New support worker induction training was followed by staff spending a period of time working with experienced colleagues to ensure they had the skills required to support people safely.

Contingency plans were in place to ensure the safe delivery of care in the event of adverse weather conditions and to protect the loss of people’s information if a fire or flood effected the main office. Office staff were trained care workers and were able to be deployed to deliver care if care workers reported sick.

People were protected from unsafe administration of their medicines because care workers were trained effectively. Care workers had completed mandatory training to ensure people’s medicines were being administered, stored and disposed of correctly. Staff skills in medicines management were reviewed on a regular basis by appropriately trained senior staff to ensure care workers were competent.

People were supported by care workers to make their own decisions. Care workers were knowledgeable about the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA 2005). The service worked with people, relatives and social care professionals when required to assess people’s capacity to make specific decisions for themselves. Care workers sought people’s consent before delivering care and support.

People were supported to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet. People told us they were able to choose their meals and they enjoyed what was provided. Records showed people’s food and drink preferences were documented in their care plans and were understood by care workers.

People’s health needs were met as the care workers and registered manager promptly engaged with other healthcare agencies and professionals to ensure people’s identified health care needs were met and to maintain people’s safety and welfare.

Care workers demonstrated they knew and understood the needs of the people they were supporting. People told us they were happy with the care provided. The registered manager and care workers were able to identify and discuss the importance of maintaining people’s respect and privacy at all times. People were encouraged and supported by care workers to make choices about their care including how they spent their day.

People had care plans which were personalised to their needs and wishes. They contained detailed information to assist care workers to provide care in a manner that respected each person’s individual requirements. Relatives told us and records showed that they were encouraged to be involved at the care planning stage, during regular reviews and when their family members’ health needs changed.

People knew how to complain and told us they would do so if required. Procedures were in place for the registered manager to monitor, investigate and respond to complaints in an effective way. People, relatives and care workers were encouraged to provide feedback on the quality of the service during regular care plan reviews, care worker spot checks or telephone calls to the office staff.

The provider’s values were communicated to people and care workers. Care workers understood these and people told us these standards were evidenced in the way that care was delivered.

The registered manager, office staff and care workers promoted a culture which focused on providing individual person centred care. People were assisted by care workers who were encouraged to raise concerns with the registered manager and office staff. The provider had a routine and regular monitoring quality monitoring process in place to assess the quality of the service being provided.

Care workers told us they felt supported by the registered manager and office staff.