Care Link Northern Limited

Updated 19 January 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 Act.

Inspection team

An inspector carried out the inspection.

Service and service type

Care Link Northern Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection 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 inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local commissioners and professionals who work with the service. 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 contacted 5 people who used the service and 3 relatives. We spoke with the office manager and 3 staff members.

We reviewed a range of records, which included 4 people’s care records, medicine records, staff files and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

Updated 19 January 2023

About the service

Care Link Northern Limited is a service registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes in the Hartlepool area. At the time of our inspection there were 24 people using the service.

Not everyone using Care Link Northern Limited received a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with '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 oversight of the operation of the service needed improvement. Due to unrelenting pressures caused by the pandemic and staffing shortages the management team had needed to concentrate on delivering hands on care. They had prioritised this and hoped once the current staffing issues were resolved they could turn their attention to fully completing the records associated with the governance of the service.

People reported they were extremely satisfied with the service. People and relatives said staff always went above and beyond in delivering the care. They described the little extras staff just did as a part of their job. Staff were passionate about providing good care outcomes and took ownership for their practice.

There were enough staff on duty to cover the care packages. Staff reported the rotas were very well organised and enabled them to easily travel to deliver each care package and have enough time to properly support people. An effective recruitment programme was in place.

Medicines management was effective and closely monitored. Staff who administered medicines had the appropriate training.

Staff adhered to COVID-19 regulations and procedures. The registered manager ensured staff had access to ample supplies of PPE and they completed regular spot checks to make sure staff complied with the guidance and best practice.

Staff had received training around the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated code of practice and felt confident applying this in their practice. 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. Staff took steps to safeguard people and promote their human rights.

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 24 April 2018).

Why we inspected

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

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Care Link Northern Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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