Stokely Healthcare Ltd

Updated 15 April 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

The inspection team was one inspector and an expert by experience who spoke to people and relatives by telephone. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since registering. We sought feedback from the local authority. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Inspection activity started on 7 March 2023 and ended on 15 March 2023. We visited the location’s office on 9 and 14 March 2023. The registered manager and nominated individual were available throughout the inspection. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records relating to people's individual care and records relating to the running of the service. This included 9 people's care records and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, 4 staff files, minutes of staff meetings, training records, copies of audits and action plans. We sought email feedback from 9 staff, 5 responses were received. We also sought email feedback from 8 professionals, 3 responses were received.

An Expert by Experience spoke with 4 people who used the service and 5 relatives about their experience of the care provided.

Updated 15 April 2023

About the service

Stokely Healthcare Ltd provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. The service is also registered to provide nursing care. They provide a service to older people and younger adults who may have a range of needs arising from dementia, learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder, mental health, and physical disability. Some people using the service received 24 hour support.

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.

At the time of our inspection 20 people were receiving the regulated activity personal care. This included 2 people with a learning disability.

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.

People were mostly supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff did not always support 1 person in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not always support this practice. An appropriate application had not been made to the Court of Protection for this person.

Recruitment procedures were not always robust, and improvements were needed to ensure staff received training and appropriate assessments of their competence to fulfil their role.

The provider had not operated effective systems and processes to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the services. The provider's audits were not always effective in identifying the issues we found.

We discussed these concerns with the nominated individual and registered manager who were responsive to feedback and started making changes to improve the service.

People’s care needs were assessed before their care package started. People and relatives told us they were happy with the care provided by staff and told us they felt involved in planning and organising the care.

People were protected from the risk of abuse because staff knew the action to take should they suspect or witness abuse.

The support people received was person centred. People told us they received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs.

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 4 January 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to staff training and governance. We have also made recommendations in relation to recruitment and consent.

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

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.