16 & 22 December 2014
During a routine inspection
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.