9 November 2022
During a routine inspection
Supreme Care Services is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. At the time of the inspection 315 people were receiving personal care. The Care Quality Commission 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
Some people told us that their care was delivered on time, and they had no concerns with staff calls, however one person told us “the service was unreliable, as their care staff are late.” We reviewed the monitoring call systems, which showed late calls were recorded and actions taken for example the office called the person to inform them that their care staff were running late and offered another staff, which people declined as they wanted their regular staff. However, we found that people did not always get their visits at the agreed time.
People and their relatives told us they felt safe with the care staff who visited them. Staff were recruited safely. People were protected from the risks associated from the spread of infection. Medicines were managed safely. People had risk assessments to protect them from harm.
People's needs were assessed before they used the service. The service worked together with healthcare professionals to ensure people's needs could be met. People were supported with their nutritional and hydration needs. Staff were supported with training and supervision.
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 demonstrated they knew people well and understood the way people wanted to be cared for. Staff obtained people's consent before delivering care. Staff understood how to provide personalised care. Care records were in place and contained information about people's preferred method of communication.
We found that people’s crisis plans were not always personalised in some areas. We have recommended the provider review their crises plans.
We found that the provider’s monitoring systems did not always pick up some errors in people’s care files and review notes. We recommend the provider refers to current guidance in relation to their quality monitoring system.
The registered manager spoke positively of their plan for improving the service to ensure they gave people good quality care. Staff told us they felt supported by the management team.
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 27 August 2021). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. Although we found some improvements at this inspection, the provider remains in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led key question sections of this full report.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.
We have identified a breach in relation to staff deployment due to late calls at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end 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.