Right at Home Bedford

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

We found 1 breach of the legal regulations. The provider's systems and processes were not always effective in areas such as care planning, risk management, incident recording, and managing health-related risks, which increased risks to people's health and well-being. However, staff and leaders were caring and approachable.

This service scored 61 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Directors told us providing care to people was their “dream”, and they had experience supporting charities that did so abroad. Staff confirmed they received an induction and training when they started.

There were systems in place for staff to receive training and induction when they commenced their roles. The provider's policies were appropriate in promoting people receiving a good standard of care. While there were shortfalls in the effective operation of some systems and policies, this did not reflect on the service culture.

Staff told us they felt well supported by the provider. The provider told us they made sure they were friendly and approachable to staff. The provider told us they provided staff with emotional support, mental health support, and financial support when a staff member had transportation issues.

At the time of our assessment, there had not been a registered manager at this location since September 2023. These increased risks related to safety, quality and oversight. The provider was actively trying to recruit to the registered manager post. There had been managers who intended to register and who had commenced their employment and left prior to registering. We will monitor this.

Staff felt they could approach the provider with any concerns they had and knew they could contact external agencies such as CQC if they needed to.

The providers policies and procedures promoted freedom to speak up.

We did not receive any feedback or concerns from staff and leaders in relation to workforce equality, diversity, and inclusion. The provider told us they employed staff from diverse backgrounds and saw this as a strength of the service.

The provider's policies promoted workforce equality, diversity, and inclusion.

In response to our findings in relation to governance, the provider told us they would review and make improvements to their systems, which included areas such as care planning, risk management, accident, incident and complaints recording and medicines management. We will check for improvement at our next assessment.

During this assessment, we identified concerns in relation to the provider's systems and processes being effective in areas such as care planning, risk management, accident, incident and complaints recording and medicines management. This increased risks to people's health, safety, and well-being. We explain and expand on this throughout this report.

We had mixed feedback from people and relatives about how often they were asked to provide feedback on the service they received. One person told us, "I feel able to raise concerns, and they were "very happy with all the care and support." However, when we asked if the provider regularly sought their feedback, they said, "Not really." Another person said, "I have been with them since [date], and they have rung me up twice to ask if everything is ok. I don't think there is much else to do to improve things."

Staff and leaders we spoke with did not raise any concerns in relation to this quality statement.

Staff had documented when people received support from external health professionals. For example, when the district nurse reviewed a person's skin health and people being visited by chiropodists. Where we identified concerns during this assessment, these were shared with the local authority. The provider worked in partnership with the local authority and CQC and communicated actions they would take to make improvements.

Staff did not always feel incidents and accidents, and lessons learnt were discussed. For example, a staff member said, "We have team meetings but don't talk about incidents and accidents." However, the provider was open and transparent throughout this assessment and receptive to our findings. As stated throughout this report, the provider told us what actions they would take to improve. We will check for improvement at our next assessment.

Accidents and incidents were not always recorded in line with the provider's systems. This increased the risk of learning not occurring from adverse events. However, the provider demonstrated they had the capacity and resources needed to promote improvement. This was demonstrated by the provider's senior leaders (franchisor) providing operational oversight of the day-to-day running of the service and developing action plans for improvements that needed to be made.