About the service SureCare Services (Wessex) is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. 41 people were using the service at the time of this inspection. 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
At our last inspection December 2018, medicines had not been managed safely for people and the provider was in breach of regulation 12. At this inspection the provider had not taken action to address these concerns and remains in breach for a consecutive time.
Risk assessments and incident reporting lacked detail. This was evidenced following incidents where it was unclear if any actions had been taken to minimise the risk of a reoccurrence.
Recruitment practices in the service had not always been undertaken safely. We made a recommendation to the provider in respect of this.
Despite areas of improvement being noted at the last inspection in December 2018, the provider had not taken the necessary action to address these concerns in a timely manner. This was a breach of regulation 17.
There were mixed indicators about the culture of the service. People spoke positively about the care and support they received, and staff were all positive about their role, the staff team and organisation. However multiple entries in care records showed disrespectful and undignified language used when evidencing people’s care and support.
People all told us they felt safe with the staff who came to support them and had no concerns.
People all knew who the registered manager was and most had met her in person. People we spoke with praised the staff for their care and kindness shown.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 4 March 2019).
At this inspection enough improvement had not been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations.
The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections.
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the providers response to a safeguarding incident that CQC were made aware of in February 2021. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
The inspection was also planned to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the Safe 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 SureCare Services (Wessex) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement
We found no evidence that people had been harmed however, systems were either not in place or robust enough to demonstrate safety was effectively managed. This placed people at risk of harm. This was a continued breach of regulation 12 (Safe Care and Treatment) and a breach of regulation 17 (Good governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection.
Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to this is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.