VJ Carers Limited

Updated 8 June 2022

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection Team

This inspection was carried out by one 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 care to people living in their own homes.

Registered Manager

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

This inspection was announced. We gave the provider short notice of the inspection visit. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 27 April 2022 with our telephone survey of people who use the service and finished on 3 May 2022. We visited the office on 3 May 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection, including notifications received from the provider. The law requires providers to send us notifications about certain events that happen during the running of a service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service and six relatives about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with the registered manager and office manager. We sought feedback from 27 staff. We received feedback from four staff. We sought feedback from eight professionals and received feedback from five professionals. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's care and support plans, two people's medicines administration records (MARs), the staff training matrix, staff competency checks, the provider’s policies for consent and medicines management and the registered manager's audits for the service.

Updated 8 June 2022

About the service

VJ Carers Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service supports older people, people living with dementia and people with a physical disability. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 54 people.

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

People were protected from the risk of harm. Care documents contained risk assessments which were clear and included specific guidance for staff on how to prevent people experiencing harm. There were enough, suitable staff to provide personalised, safe care to people. Medicines were managed safely. Staff observed infection control practices when delivering care and support. Staff reflected on practice to make improvements to care and support.

People's needs and choices were assessed effectively by skilled staff. People were supported to have a healthy diet and were protected from the risk of malnutrition and dehydration. Staff work effectively with professionals from health and social care to promote people's health and wellbeing.

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.

The registered manager and staff team were dedicated to delivering person-centred, compassionate care which promoted people's dignity and independence. The registered manager had implemented clear auditing and governance systems which ensured staff responsibilities were clear and identified actions were completed. Staff and the people they supported were involved in how the service was run and their feedback was encouraged and valued. Staff demonstrated a culture of learning and continuous improvement and worked collaboratively with other professionals to meet people's needs.

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

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 6 April 2021) and there were two breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach the regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced, comprehensive inspection of this service on 8 February 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when, to comply with the regulations for safe care and treatment and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions of safe and well-led, which cover those requirements.

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 changed from requires improvement to 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 VJ Carers 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.