Comfort Call - Liverpool

Updated 15 June 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

The service had a manager who was currently registering with the Care Quality Commission. This means when they register, they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

This inspection was unannounced.

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. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with eight people who used the service and two relatives by telephone, about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the regional manager, new manager and two scheme managers.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data, quality assurance records, polices and procedure, complaints, and safeguarding information. We contacted people and staff by telephone.

Updated 15 June 2021

About the service

This service provides care to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care service.

Comfort Call Liverpool provide care and support at four separate extra care sites across Liverpool. They are Milachip Court, Meadow Court, Latham Court and Linksview, which is also the registered location were the care is managed from. We conducted our site visit at Linksview, and we visited three of the four schemes during our inspection.

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

Most people had up to date risk assessments in place. However, not all risk assessments contained relevant and up to date information, and risks were not always being monitored. This placed people at risk of unsafe care. We received mixed feedback regarding the staffing levels across the schemes, however most people said staff were quick to respond and visited them in time. We have made a recommendation regarding staffing levels. Incidents and accidents were recorded, and the provider ensured lessons were learnt where incidents occurred to prevent them occurring in the future. People were supported to take their prescribed medication. Staff had access to appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and had received training in relation to infection prevention and control and COVID-19. Staff were recruited safely.

People were supported to access healthcare services. However, people’s health and well-being were not always monitored appropriately due to relevant records, daily logs and communication between staff not being completed correctly.

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. Staff were trained in a range of subjects relevant to their role and underwent regular supervision and appraisal

Governance and quality checks were in place, however they were not robust enough and did not highlight the concerns we found with regards to some inaccurate risk assessments and incomplete records. This meant the service was not always well-led. The regional manager was open and transparent with us during the inspection and has since started to make improvements in this area.

The organisation worked in partnership with the housing provider and local authority safeguarding teams. Most staff said they liked the regional manager; however, some staff felt the turnover of scheme managers was too high. Feedback was gathered from people using the service and their families which was positive.

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 14 December 2017)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about records, communication and staffing. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only. We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from Good to Requires Improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

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 discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and governance.

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

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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.