About the service Signa Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in the community. The service was responsible for supporting five adults with their 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
Relatives and people told us that staff did not always listen to them and talk to them appropriately and in a way they can understand. As a result, this impacted on the quality of the care received.
Safe recruitment procedures were not always followed. Full checks were not routinely conducted to ensure applicants were safe to support people in their own homes. The service failed to carry out full assessments of applicants’ competence, skills and experience which were necessary for role.
The quality monitoring systems were not effective. The issues we found had not been identified via the provider’s quality auditing systems. The service had systems for recording accidents and incidents, complaints and safeguarding concerns. However, the information was not analysed to identify any lessons learned to drive improvement across the service.
The provider had systems in place to ensure people were protected from abuse and harm. Staff had completed safeguarding training. Individual and environmental risks were identified and managed. A continuity plan was in place to ensure people would continue to receive support in the event of an emergency.
The service was responsive to supporting people with end of life care. One health care professional told us how the service responded quickly to requests of support and ensured care packages were in place allowing people to be cared for in their own home.
Care plans were person centred and provided staff with detailed information on how to support people in line with their preferences.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Staff told us they felt supported by the management team. People, relatives and staff were encouraged to offer feedback.
People felt able to raise concerns and there was a process in place to manage and respond to any complaints about the service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 31 May 2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on our inspection programme.
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 discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.
We have identified breaches in relation to the assessment of applicants’ competence, skills and experience which are necessary for the role, safe recruitment, and governance. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report. 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 for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.