Connect 2 Flexicare Head Office

Updated 28 April 2023

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 1 inspector and 1 Expert by Experience made telephone calls to people and their relatives. 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 houses and flats. The service is also registered for supported living, however, at the time of the inspection this service type was not active.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 10 March 2023 when we requested initial information from the service and ended on 31 March 2023. We visited the location’s office on 27 and 28 March 2023.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met with the registered manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We spoke with 3 office staff. We checked a range of required records. These included care plans, staff personnel and training records, a sample of policies, procedures and other guidance, audits, observations of staff practice and medicines administration records. We spoke with 7 relatives. We received written feedback from another relative.

Emails were sent to all staff inviting them to provide feedback to us. We received responses from 26 staff. We contacted community professionals who are involved in the care of people who were supported by the service and received 3 replies.

Updated 28 April 2023

About the service

Connect 2 Flexicare Head Office is registered to provide personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 16 people being supported by the service. The service is also registered to provide the regulated activity of treatment of disease, disorder or injury. However, at the time of the inspection this activity was not carried out.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence, and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

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. However, we have made a recommendation about records relating to decisions made in people’s best interests.

We had some concerns about the provider’s compliance in reporting certain events to us. However, we fully explored this and found the provider demonstrated an understanding of what and when needed to be reported to us. However, we have made a recommendation about records relating to decisions about safeguarding concerns.

People and their relatives were treated with dignity and respect. Staff were described as kind and caring. Comments from relatives included, “Their kindness and affection extends to us as a whole family, they are just so personal” and “The main group of carers we have are really good and caring, they have [name of person] best interests at heart.”

People were supported by staff who were recruited safely and had training to meet their needs. Relatives told us they and the person being supported felt safe with the staff. One relative told us, “They have really respected our need for a core team of the same staff. It is so important that [name of person] has consistent care because it could affect her life and prognosis and they’ve done that and kept it up for 2 years. They’re excellent. No, I can’t think of anything I’m unhappy with.”

The service worked well with other social and healthcare professionals and promoted individual rights of people. One relative told us, “The management of the service do listen and the react immediately.” Another relative told us, “I honestly can’t praise them enough. Sometimes there’ll be an emergency and they deal with it brilliantly and are so flexible. If we have meetings, they are always done in a personal way and they always listen to us.”

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 March 2018).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staff training and competency. 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.

Follow up

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