Archived: Mears Care Derby

Updated 9 April 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection site visit took place on 14 January 2019 and was announced. The provider was given 72 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available at the office. Telephone calls were made to people using the service their relatives on 14, 15, 21 and 22 January 2019. We spoke with some staff when visiting the office and contacted other staff by telephone following the office visit on 23 and 24 January 2019.

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and two experts 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. The experts by experience did not attend the office of the service or visit people at home, but spoke by telephone with people and relatives of people who used the service.

We checked the information we held about the service and the provider. This included notifications the provider had sent to us about significant events at the service and information we had received from the public. We also received feedback from the local authority who commission services from the provider. We used all of this information to formulate our inspection plan.

Due to a technical issue a Provider Information Return (PIR) was not sent out. This is a form that tasks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. During the inspection visit we gave the provider the opportunity to tell us about their business development plans for the next 12 months.

We spoke with 14 people who used the service and nine people's relatives. We spoke with the regional director, interim manager, two team leaders and seven care workers. We did this to gain people's views about the care and to check that standards of care were being met. The registered manager was on leave when we carried out the inspection and the regional director and interim manager facilitated the inspection.

We looked at the care records for three people. We checked that the care they received matched the information in their records. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service, including quality checks and staff files.

Updated 9 April 2019

This inspection site visit took place on 14 January 2019 and was announced. We gave the provider 72 hours' notice of our visit because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to make sure that there would be someone at the office at the time of our visit. On 14,15, 21,22,23 and 24 January 2019 we made telephone calls to people using the service, relatives and staff for their views on the service.

Mears Care Derby is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. The service caters for older people and younger adults with needs relating to dementia, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment. The registered location is situated in Derby city centre, providing to people around Derby, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. There were 283 people using this service at the time of our inspection.

At our last inspection during March 2017 we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the service required improvements in some areas. Providers should be aiming to achieve and sustain a rating of ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’. Good care is the minimum that people receiving services should expect and deserve to receive.

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.’ However following the inspection site visit the provider notified us that the registered manager no longer worked for them. The provider confirmed temporary management arrangements had been put into place until another manager was appointed into this position.

People raised concerns that they did not always receive their calls at the agreed times and when staff had been delayed they were not notified. Current governance systems were not always effective in recognising area's which required improvements.

Current staffing levels did not ensure that there were sufficient staff deployed to meet people’s individual needs.

There were processes in place for people to raise any complaints or concerns about the service provided. However, people did not feel listened to and felt their complaints had not always been resolved to their satisfaction.

Recruitment procedures ensured prospective staff were suitable to care for people receiving personal care in their own homes.

People told us they felt safe with the care provided by staff. Staff we spoke with understood their responsibility in protecting people from the risk of harm. Staff told us they had received training and an induction that had helped them to understand and support people.

Staff supported people to make decisions about their day to day care and support.

When needed, people were supported to maintain their dietary requirements. Staff we spoke with were aware of who to contact in an event of an emergency.

People told us that staff treated them in a caring way and respected their privacy and supported them to maintain their dignity.