29 June 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Pioneering Care is a domiciliary care agency providing care to people in their own homes in the Oxfordshire area. At the time of our inspection 38 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care from the service. Not everyone using the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care, which 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
People were kept safe from abuse and harm, and staff knew how to report any suspicions concerning abuse. The service had systems to report and investigate concerns. Risk assessments identified how potential risks should be managed to reduce the likelihood of people experiencing harm. Staff understood the risks to people and delivered safe care in accordance with people's support plans. There were enough staff to keep people safe and meet their needs. Robust recruitment processes aimed to ensure only suitable staff were selected to work with people.
People told us staff were mostly punctual, and no one told us they had experienced a missed visit. People were informed when their care visits would be taking place. Support visits were monitored through an electronic monitoring system that alerted management if staff were running late.
People, and staff spoke positively of the management; they found them approachable and supportive. Staff were given appropriate responsibility which was continuously monitored and checked by the registered manager. There were effective systems to monitor, maintain and improve the quality of the service.
The registered manager welcomed the inspection and engaged fully in the inspection process. They were open and honest and encouraged staff to do the same.
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 Good (published 27 March 2020).
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about poor care, staff working without using Personal protective equipment (PPE) correctly, people being verbally abused, poor management and a closed culture within the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe and Well-Led only.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the Safe and Well-Led sections of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Pioneering Care Bicester Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.