KEYFORT North West

Updated 14 September 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 was carried out by an inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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 and nursing care to people living in their own houses.

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 not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been in post for 8 months and had submitted an application to register but had subsequently withdrawn this application as they were leaving for a new post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service short 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. The inspection was carried out between 17 July and 1 August 2023. We visited the office on 17 and 26 July 2023.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority, professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. 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

We spoke with 2 people and 2 relatives. We spoke with 3 staff including the operations manager, service manager and clinical nurse educator. We sent a survey to 10 support and case manager staff and received 2 responses.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people’s care records and medicine records. We looked at 2 staff files in relation to recruitment. We also viewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, policies and procedures.

Updated 14 September 2023

About the service

KEYFORT North West is a domiciliary care service which provides personal and nursing care to people living in their own homes across the county of Cumbria who have a significant physical, neuropathic and complex care needs. There were 9 people using the service at the time of this inspection.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The service also provides a social, community-access service for several other people. 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

People said they received a bespoke service from their staff teams. They praised the staff for their care and kindness. People and relatives said staff were reliable and on time. There was good continuity of care so they had the same regular care staff members. Staff knew how to support each person in the way they preferred.

People and relatives said the service upheld their safety and they felt safe and comfortable when staff were supporting them. There were enough staff to cover everyone’s visits and to provide a contingency for any gaps. Any potential risks to people were assessed by the provider and safety measures put in place. The provider checked if staff were suitable to work with people. People had confidence in staff’s abilities and competence.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Records about consent were detailed and clear.

The provider had governance system to check the quality of the service. A management team had good oversight of the service and had improvement actions in place to address some historic gaps in staff refresher training.

People and relatives did not always feel communication with the provider was practical or effective. People said the service did not have a local office and contact by telephone was difficult. Staff felt valued and supported but also commented on communication with colleagues as an area for improvement. We have made a recommendation about improving contact between the provider and people.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 19 June 2018).

At our last inspection we recommended the provider made improvements to contingency staffing arrangements. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on the recommendation and staff contingency arrangements had improved.

Why we inspected

We carried out this inspection due to the length of time since the last inspection.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions Safe and Well-led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for KEYFORT North West on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation for the provider to support improved communication with people and staff.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.