Golden Key Support Ltd

Updated 28 September 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The 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.

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 the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that a member of staff would be available to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service, including notifications of incidents the provider is required to tell us about. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Inspection activity started on 23 August and ended on 6 September 2022. We visited the location’s office/service location on 23 August 2022.

We reviewed records of care and support for four people and records of recruitment, supervision and training for three staff members. We looked at records relating to the management of the service, including staff meetings, policies and procedures. We spoke with the registered manager, director and a care co-ordinator. We made telephone calls to four care workers, two people who used the service and ten family members of people who used the service.

Updated 28 September 2022

About the service

Golden Key Support is a domiciliary care agency. The service provides personal care to older adults and children with additional needs. At the time of our inspection there were 13 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. In this service, the Care Quality Commission can only inspect the service received by people who get support with personal care. This includes help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people receive such support, we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People received care from consistent care workers who arrived on time and met their needs. People told us that they were always able to contact the office for help and advice and were regularly contacted to ensure that they were happy with the service.

There were suitable systems in place to safeguard people from abuse. The provider assessed risks to people’s health and safety and wellbeing, but sometimes risk management plans were not kept up to date as people’s needs changed. The service sought advice and training from other professionals if they were concerned about a person’s safety.

Medicines were safely managed by staff with the right skills to do so. There were effective systems for planning people’s medicines support and checking they had received this as required. Sometimes medicines management plans were not clear about the exact levels of support that people required.

Care workers were recruited safely and the provider ensured that people had enough staff to safely meet their needs and to ensure that they were familiar with who was coming to support them.

The service ensured that care workers understood infection prevention and control and had access to the right equipment to protect people from COVID-19. The service had not been carrying out routine testing as required by government guidance, but since our visit this is no longer recommended for care workers.

Staff had the right training and skills to support people safely, and the registered manager carried out supervision and observations to check staff skills and understanding. People had the right support to eat and drink and the service understood people’s health conditions and how this could affect their support.

The service monitored people’s care through regular communication with people and their families and systems of spot checks and audits. Care workers described feeling well supported by their managers.

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.

For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating for this service was good (published 23 February 2021).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the planning and recording of care visits. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe, Effective and Well-led only.

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 not changed following this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern.

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

Recommendations

We have made recommendations in relation to how the provider assesses people’s capacity to make specific decisions. We will check if the provider has acted on any recommendations at our next comprehensive inspection.

Follow up

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