Essential Care Solutions Ltd

Essential Care Solutions Ltd is a small domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in the community. The service provides support to older people, younger adults and people with a physical disability or sensory impairment. At the time of our inspection there were 2 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The majority of people’s health associated risks were assessed by the provider. We found some health associated risks were not assessed to guide staff on how to respond to these risks.

Where people were supported in the administration of their medicines, they were supported by staff who had been trained and competency assessed. The provider had no system for the safe administration of transdermal patch application. The provider responded immediately to the feedback from this inspection and implemented a system for transdermal patch application.

People were supported by a small staff team of 6 staff including the registered manager. Staff were mainly safely recruited. We have recommended the provider review their risk assessment processes for new staff. Staff had received a suitable induction with ongoing training and support. Staff were complimentary about the support they had been provided to relocate from overseas.

We received positive feedback from relatives, staff and professionals about the registered manager who was described as “professional”, “approachable” and “kind.” The registered manager had systems to monitor the quality of the service and staff practices. We identified some areas for improvement in these quality systems.

People’s care needs were assessed before receiving care from the service and were updated regularly. This meant that people’s changing needs were identified and supported in a timely way. Care plans for people guided staff to provide safe and effective care.

Relatives told us that people felt safe whilst receiving personal care from the service and felt protected from any risk of abuse. Staff had received safeguarding training and knew the steps they should take to report concerns.

Accidents, incidents and near misses were reported and responded to appropriately and in a timely manner to reduce risk to people. Any lessons learnt were shared with staff to improve practice.

Staff followed good infection control practices and had access to personal protective equipment (PPE).

People were supported to have maximum choice and control over their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.

Relatives of people were overwhelmingly positive about the caring nature of the service and the staff. They reported that they were treated with dignity, respect and kindness.

People were supported in end-of-life care with dignity and respect by staff.

People, relatives and staff felt their concerns were listened to and acted upon. Any learning from good practice of areas for improvement were shared across the organisation.

Staff worked in partnership with relatives and professionals to achieve the best outcomes for people.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 30 March 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

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

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation to the provider to review their risk assessment processes for new staff.