11 October 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Premier Care Bradford is a domiciliary care agency providing support and personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 67 people. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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
Medicines were not always managed safely. Whilst some systems had improved, we found gaps and shortfalls in people’s medicine records. This meant we were not assured people were receiving their medication as prescribed.
A range of audits and checks were undertaken to assess, monitor and improve the service. They had not been effective in identifying shortfalls in the management of medicines. Other quality checks were effective in identifying issues and driving improvements. The registered manager responded promptly to our feedback about concerns and took action to address the shortfalls. The registered manager was approachable and supportive and provided leadership to the team. Staff received regular supervision and support.
Recruitment was managed safely and there were enough staff to support people.
People and relatives gave positive feedback about staff and the support they received. They said they felt safe and staff were kind and respectful. We received mixed feedback about the consistency and timing of calls. Risks to people’s health and safety were assessed and regularly reviewed. Staff knew people well and supported them based on their needs, choices and preferences.
People and staff’ feedback was sought, listened to, and used to improve the service.
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.
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.
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 13 November 2019). At this inspection we found the provider remained in breach of regulations. The service has been rated requires improvement for the last three consecutive inspections.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 9 and 14 October 2022. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Premier Care Bradford on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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 monitor the service and will take further action if needed.
We have identified breaches in relation to the safe management of medication and good governance at this inspection.
Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.
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