Pringles Care Services - Central

Pringles Care Services - Central is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes in the London Boroughs of Barnet and Ealing. At the time of the inspection the agency was supporting 28 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 felt safe and the service met their care and support needs. The provider developed care plans with people and their relatives that set out their likes, care preferences and communication needs.

The provider assessed and planned to risks to people’s safety and wellbeing. Staff supported people with their medicines safely. There were systems in place to help protect people from abuse and to investigate and learn when things went wrong.

People were usually visited by the same care workers who they were on time and familiar with their care needs. People and their relatives knew how to raise issues or complaints and could contact the service when they needed to.

Staff received training and regular supervision and felt supported in their roles by the registered manager and office staff. There were recruitment processes in place to help make sure only suitable staff were employed.

There were audit systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and identify when improvements were required. People and staff were asked to give feedback about the service.

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 24 May 2022) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced focus inspection of this service on 31 March and 1 April 2022. 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 improve 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 safe, responsive 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 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 Pringles Care Services - Central 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.

Pringles Care Services - Central is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the agency was supporting 42 people. 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 and relatives told us they felt their care service was safe. However, the provider had not always assessed risks to people’s health and well-being or done all that was reasonably practicable to reduce those risks.

There were assorted quality monitoring systems in place, but these had not always been effective as they had not enabled the provider to identify and address the issues we found. The provider did not always appropriately manage records about the service and people’s care.

There were arrangements in place for preventing and controlling infection that were not applied consistently. The provider had not followed national guidance on staff COVID-19 testing. The registered manager addressed this promptly after the inspection.

There were enough staff to meet people's needs safely, but the provider did not always monitor staff attendance effectively. People were visited by the same care workers who they were familiar with and who knew their care needs. There were recruitment processes in place to help make sure only suitable staff were employed.

There were procedures to help people take their prescribed medicines. The service worked in partnership with other agencies, such as social workers and GPs, to help those agencies provide coordinated care to people.

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 28 August 2018).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to providing safe care and the management of the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe 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 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 improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Pringles Care Services – Central 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 and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of the full version 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to 40 older adults.

Not everyone using Pringles Care Services Central receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People using the service and their relatives told us people were cared for safely. The provider had systems in place to keep people safe from abuse and care workers had completed safeguarding training.

The provider assessed risks to people using the service and their care workers and acted to mitigate the risks they identified.

The provider carried out checks on new staff to make sure they were suitable to work with people using the service. Care workers told us the checks were completed before they started to work with people.

Where people’s care plans included support with their medicines, the provider arranged this.

The provider acted to make improvements when things went wrong.

The provider assessed people’s care and support needs and delivered care and support in line with current legislation and guidance.

The provider’s training matrix showed that all care workers were up to date with training the provider considered mandatory. Care workers told us the training and support they received had given them the skills, knowledge and confidence they needed to carry out their duties and responsibilities effectively.

People’s care plans included information about their preferences for how they received care and support.

People using the service and their relatives told us their care workers were kind and treated them with respect.

The registered manager regularly reviewed people’s care plans and involved them in making decisions about their care.

People’s care records included information about what they could do for themselves and areas where they needed care and support.

Pringles Care Central provides care and support to 59 people living in their own homes. The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People may have been at risk of unsafe or inappropriate care as audits and checks the provider carried out were not always effective. For example, they had not identified that the time sheets care workers completed did not always accurately reflect the care and support people received and the need to review some people's risk assessments and improve the recording of support people received with their medicines. We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in relation to good governance. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

Some people and relatives were satisfied that they received their visits as planned and care workers stayed for the length of the visits. There were also instances where care workers were late or did not stay the length of the visits. Two of the time sheets we looked at showed care workers were with two clients at the same time and others did not allow for time to travel between people's homes.

The provider had systems in place to keep people safe and staff completed training to safeguard people using the service. The provider also carried out checks on new care workers to make sure they were suitable to work with people using the service.

Care workers did not always accurately follow people's care plans when supporting them with their medicines and their risk assessments were not reviewed and updated when necessary.

People were cared for and supported by care workers who were well trained and supported. Their care workers provided people with support for their nutritional or health care needs, when required.

The provider operated within the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People using the service or their relatives had been involved in their care planning and had signed to demonstrate they had given consent to the care and support they received.

The provider had systems in place to ask people about the care and support they received and people using the service and their relatives told us their care workers knew them well and provided the support they needed in a caring way. Care workers told us they tried to support people in the ways they wanted and helped people to maintain their independence.

Most people told us they received care which met their needs and reflected their care plans. Where people told us the provider could make improvements, the registered manager told us they would address these.

People’s care records included information about their care and support needs and care workers we spoke with told us they used these to make sure they provided the correct care for people.

The provider had a complaints procedure and they recorded and investigated complaints they received.

The provider had a qualified and experienced manager to run the service.