GN Care Services Ltd

Updated 2 December 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

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service a short period of notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 1 November 2022 and ended on 9 November 2022. We visited the location's office on 1 November 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since they were first registered. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager and the care coordinator. All the head office team provided care and support to people using the service. We reviewed a range of records including records relating to staffing and recruitment and other records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 2 December 2022

About the service

GN Care Services Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care. The service provides support to people living in their own homes in the community. At the time of our inspection there were 30 people using the service. 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

Some aspects of the recruitment process were not always safe. Some staff files did not contain all the information providers are required to have to ensure staff are of good character and suitable to work with people. After the inspection the provider sent us confirmation on how they would reduce risk in this area and keep people safe.

After our last inspection the provider sent in an action plan to tell us how they were going to make improvements in the systems to help monitor missed and late calls. At this inspection we found the provider had started to introduce a new monitoring system. They hoped to fully implement this system by the end of November 2022. The provider had also introduced new quality assurance checks to make sure people received care and support in line with our regulations. Unfortunately, the checks did not identify the issues we found with recruitment. This meant there was still a risk that the provider may miss areas of risk and unsafe practice.

The provider had systems and processes in place to safeguard people from abuse. Staff knew how to protect people from abuse and how to manage people’s risk to keep people safe. People’s medicines were managed safely. There were enough staff to support people and meet their needs. Staff followed infection and prevention procedures to help reduce the risk of infection. 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 supported this practice.

The provider was in the process of making improvements to the service and continued to work with the local authority to make things better for people. The provider engaged and involved people and staff in the running of the service and made sure they used learning from concerns raised to develop their systems and processes to improve the care and support people received.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 20 September 2022).

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found the provider was making improvements in the areas identified in their action plan but remained in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We undertook a targeted inspection to follow up on specific concerns which we had received about the service. The inspection was prompted by concerns received about the recruitment procedures in place having an impact on people’s safety. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We inspected and found there was a concern with some checks carried out to make sure the recruitment of staff was safe, so we widened the scope of the inspection to become a focused inspection which included the key questions of safe and well-led.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to checks undertaken as part of the recruitment process and how the provider assesses and manages risk in relation to recruitment.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this 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.