Mega Resources Nursing & Care - Bedford

Mega Resources Nursing & Care Bedford is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. The service provides support to adults living with a physical disability or a sensory impairment including people who may be living with dementia. The service provides a ‘rapid response’ service to some people, where they support people who have just returned home from hospital to assess the support they need from the service or other services in the longer term.

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. At the time of our inspection there were 91 people receiving personal care at the service.

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

The management team completed audits to monitor the quality of the service, however these were not always effective in identifying and driving improvements at the service. This included areas such as care visit monitoring and care plans being sufficiently detailed. Some people and relatives felt that communication with the management team could be improved. They felt they would like more opportunities to feedback about the service. The management team acted on this feedback immediately and gave us assurances improvements would be made and sustained.

Most people and relatives were positive about the support staff gave them. One person said, ‘‘If you are looking for a good service then I would recommend this one. [Staff] know what they are doing.’’

People felt safe using the service and staff were trained in safeguarding. Risks to people had been assessed and plans were in place to mitigate risks as far as possible. There were enough staff to support people safely, although the way in which care visit times were monitored needed improvement. We have made a recommendation that the management team monitor care visit times more thoroughly. People were supported safely with their medicines. Staff followed good infection control processes.

Staff were trained and knowledgeable and the management team checked staff competencies regularly. People were supported to eat and drink if they needed this support. Staff worked well with health professionals and supported people in line with guidance from professionals where this was given. 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.

People and relatives felt staff were kind and caring. Staff ensured people were supported to make day to day choices whilst they were being supported. People were supported to be independent if this was their choice and staff supported people with dignity and respect.

People’s personalised care and support needs had been assessed; however care plans would have benefitted from being more detailed. We have made a recommendation the management team review care plans to ensure they are sufficiently detailed. Staff knew how to speak with people in their identified ways of communication. There was a complaints policy in place at the service and concerns were responded to appropriately. People received dignified and compassionate care at the end of their life.

The registered manager and management team were passionate about providing good quality care for people. They took our feedback seriously and started to put improvements in place to address the areas we found needed action during the inspection. Staff enjoyed working at the service and took pride in their job roles. People and staff were involved in meetings to give feedback about the service. The staff team worked well with other professionals. We were assured the management team would continue to improve 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

The last rating for this service was good (published 13 June 2018)

Why we inspected

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

Follow up

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 older adults

Not everyone using Mega Resources Nursing & Care - Bedford 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. At the time of our inspection 37 people were using the service.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

There were processes in place to protect people from avoidable harm and staff were aware of their responsibilities to report them. Risks to people were assessed and managed appropriately.

Staff had been recruited using a robust recruitment process. There was enough trained staff to support people with their needs. Staff had attended a variety of training to keep their skills up to date and were supported with regular supervision.

Systems were in place for the safe management of medicines and people were protected by the prevention and control of infection.

The provider had processes in place for when things went wrong and lessons were learnt in order to improve the service.

People could make choices about their food and drink and were provided with support when required.

Staff would access additional health care professionals to ensure people received effective care or treatment if and when required.

Staff gained consent to care before supporting people; this was sought in line with legislation. Staff treated people with kindness and compassion. People were treated with dignity and respect, and had the privacy they required.

People’s needs had been assessed prior to them receiving care visits. Care and support plans were personalised and reflected people’s individual requirements. People and their relatives were involved in decisions regarding their care and support needs.

There was a complaints procedure in place and people knew how to complain.

The provider had a clear vision, and was open and transparent. Quality monitoring systems were in place and were effective and staff were involved in developing the service.