Archived: Mears Homecare Limited - Derby

Updated 30 March 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection took place on 16 and 22 December 2014. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available at the office.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and one expert-by-experience. An Expert-by-Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The Expert-by-Experience did not attend the agency’s office, but spoke by telephone with people who used the service and some relatives of other people that used the service. These telephone interviews took place between 23 and 24 December 2014.

Before our inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the service, which included notifications. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the registered provider must inform CQC about. Before the inspection, we asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We contacted the Local Authority contract monitoring team, responsible for funding people’s care at the service and asked them for their views about the service.

We spoke with 18 people who used the service and four relatives of other people that used the service. We also spoke with the registered manager, area manager, care manager and four care staff.

We reviewed records held at the agency office. These included six people’s care records, staff records and other records which related to the management of the service such as quality assurance and policies and procedures.

Updated 30 March 2015

This inspection took place on 16 & 22 December 2014 and was announced. This meant the provider and staff knew we would be visiting the agency’s office before we arrived.

Care UK Homecare Limited – Derby is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to young adults and older people in their own homes across Derby. This includes people with physical disabilities and people living with dementia. The agency is located in Derby City centre. The service was providing support for up to 232 people at the time of our visit.

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.

At the last inspection on 24 May 2013, we asked the provider to take action to make improvements. We asked them to review information in care plans regarding medicines management as they did not detail the level of support people required with medication and no medication risk assessments had been in place. The provider sent us an action plan outlining how they would make improvements.

At this inspection we found that action had been taken and improvements had been made.

The current staffing levels did not ensure there were sufficient staff available to meet people’s individual needs and ensure their independence.

People and their relatives raised concerns about the frequency of changes regarding their care call rota. They also told us about not knowing which carer was covering their calls, as the rota would often say relief carer. When care staff were running late, people were not always informed.

People were able to raise concerns. However complaints were not always well managed and communication with the office staff had not always been consistent or issues resolved satisfactorily.

Some people felt that they did not receive continuity of care, as they did not have regular care staff.

Arrangements in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service did not ensure improvements when required were identified and actions put in place to drive improvement.

Care staff told us that they received training and regular updates which related to the needs of the people receiving support. Care staff were supported through supervision and staff meetings.

People told us that staff treated them with dignity and respected their privacy

Recruitment procedures ensured suitable staff were employed to work with people who used the service.

We found a number of breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.