Archived: Care With Compassion

Care With Compassion is registered to provide care to younger adults, older people and people with dementia, physical disability, sensory impairment and learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder.

People’s experience of using this service:

The registered manager did not clearly understand their role in relation to the completion of mental capacity assessments and best interest decisions for people that lack capacity. However, we found that people were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The strength of each medicine was not recorded on the administration page of the medicines administration record (MAR) which put people at risk of receiving the wrong medicine dosage. We made a recommendation for the service to review all MAR records and add the strength of medicines on the administration page.

The service had not sought pharmacy advice when administering medicines hidden in food. This meant staff may not understand how giving medicines with food may affect how the body absorbs the medicine.

Staff received training prior to giving people their medicines and people received their medicines on time.

The registered manager had a good overview of the service and was in regular contact with people receiving care and their relatives.

The service displayed CQC’s rating of performance at their business location and on their website.

People were supported by staff that were kind and caring, their privacy and dignity was respected.

People were supported by staff that had been safely recruited and had adequate training to meet their needs.

Risks associated with people falling and moving around their home environment had been identified and care plans were reviewed regularly and updated as and when people’s needs changed. Staff understood risks associated with people’s healthcare conditions.

People were supported to eat and drink enough. Their choices were respected, and they were in control of their care.

People’s independence was promoted, and they received individualised support from staff that knew them well.

Concerns were promptly responded to and people knew the management team by name.

The service met the characteristics for a rating of ‘requires improvement’’ in two of the five key questions we inspected and a rating of ‘good’ in three. Therefore, our overall rating for the service after this inspection was ‘requires improvement’.

Rating at last inspection: Good (Report published 18 October 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated Good.

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

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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 received care from staff that were kind and caring and passionate about providing the care and support people wanted to enable them to stay in their own homes. Staff had the skills and knowledge to provide the care and support people needed and were supported by a registered manager who was receptive to ideas and committed to providing a high standard of care.

Staff understood the need to protect people from harm and knew what action they should take if they had any concerns. People told us that they felt cared for safely in their own home. Staff understood their role in caring for people with limited or no capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People had care plans that were personalised to their individual needs and wishes. Records contained detailed information to assist care workers to provide care and support in an individualised manner that respected each person's individual requirements and promoted treating people with dignity.

Staffing levels ensured that people received the support they required safely and at the times they needed. The recruitment practice protected people from being cared for by staff that were unsuitable to work in their home.

The registered manager was approachable and continually monitored the quality of the service provided. Staff and people were confident that issues would be addressed and that any concerns they had would be listened to.