Wise Home Care Limited

Updated 30 September 2022

The inspection

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider who was also the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 05 August 2022 and ended on 17 August 2022. We visited the location’s office on 05 August 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We did not ask the provider to send us a Provider Information Return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. However, we offered the registered manager the opportunity to share information they felt relevant with us at this inspection.

The inspection was informed by other information we had received from and about the service. This included feedback from the local authority and notifications from the provider. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to send us by law. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We looked at three people’s care records to check the care they received matched the information in their records. Only three staff including the registered manager were employed. We reviewed two staff files to see how staff were recruited and looked at training records. We looked at the systems the provider had in place to ensure the quality of the service was continuously monitored and reviewed to drive improvement. We spoke with one person that used the service and contacted three people’s relatives to get their views of the service. We also received feedback from a member of staff that worked at the service. The registered manager who was also the provider was available at the time of the inspection visit.

After the inspection

As the registered manager also covered care calls, to reduce the amount of time spent in the office, we reviewed some documents via email. This included people’s care records and audits undertaken so that we could see how the provider monitored the service to drive improvements. They sent this to us within the required timeframe.

Updated 30 September 2022

120 Buxton Road is a domiciliary care service. It provides care for people living in their own homes. CQC regulates the personal care and support. There were six people who received personal care at the time of the 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

Improvements were needed to ensure people were protected by robust recruitment practices. One recently employed member of staff did not have the required police check in place at the time of the inspection.

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 did not fully support this practice.

Quality monitoring was undertaken and kept under review by the provider to drive improvement. Tools used however had not effectively identified areas that required improvement found at this inspection.

Staff worked within the providers policy and procedure for infection prevention and control and followed current government guidance related to COVID-19.

The registered manager and staff team knew how to protect people from abuse and the procedure to follow to report concerns. People and their family members spoke highly of the staff and management team. People told us staff were polite, caring and friendly towards them. People’s needs, including their safety in relation to care were assessed and monitored.

Where people were supported with their medicines these were managed safely. Medicines were administered by staff that had received training and had their competency to administer medicines assessed. When needed people were supported to access health care professionals to support their well-being and manage their dietary needs.

The views of people and their relatives were sought including involvement in decisions relating to their care.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

This service was registered with us on 10 January 2018 and this is the first inspection.

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, effective and well-led sections of this full report.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to recruitment procedures at this inspection.

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