About the service Springfield Healthcare (North Yorkshire & York) is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people across North Yorkshire and York. The service was supporting 161 people at the time of our inspection. This included people living with dementia, physical disabilities, older people and younger adults.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The provider had governance processes in place, but these had not been effectively implemented or embedded within the service. The provider was therefore not aware of short falls found on inspection.
People and staff were unsure of who the registered manager was and felt communication was poor.
Records and risk assessments did not always contain essential, up to date information and guidance for staff. Medicine administration was safe, however supporting documentation around medicines such as body maps for creams were not always in place.
Care calls were not always timely and communication around late calls was inconsistent. People also told us they wanted to be informed which staff would be supporting them prior to the call. The provider was looking at ensuring the system was accessible to people using the service.
People felt safe and confident in staff's ability to provide care and gave positive feedback. One person told us, “Staff have a good understanding of people as individuals and always treat us with dignity and respect.” And “Staff are always very respectful and treat me very well.”
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 30 October 2018).
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted by monitoring data which indicated potential risk.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
The provider took action to mitigate risks immediately when these were highlighted.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Springfield Health Care (North Yorkshire and York) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We have identified breaches in relation to good governance and staffing at this inspection.
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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.