Archived: Mayfair Homecare - Newbury

Mayfair Homecare - Newbury is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older adults, people living with dementia and people living with physical disabilities, sensory impairment, learning disabilities and autism. Not everyone who uses the service receives personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal support with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 18 people living in the Newbury, Thatcham, Reading and surrounding areas. At the time of inspection, the service was in the process of terminating their care provision in the Reading area.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The registered manager was working with local authority commissioning to ensure people received care at their preferred times to support risk management. People receiving care in the Reading area consistently praised the quality of care they received and voiced their disappointment about the discontinuance of the provider’s service in this area. Other people and staff told us they felt well supported by the registered manager, who had developed an effective management team that worked well together. The management team effectively operated systems to review the quality and safety of the service. The registered manager encouraged critical feedback from people and staff to drive continuous improvement in the service. Staff had developed positive relationships, effective communication and information sharing with community health care professionals, which ensured people’s changing needs were met with the appropriate care and treatment.

People were supported by staff who understood how to safeguard them from abuse, neglect and discrimination. Enough staff with the right mix of skills and experience were deployed to deliver care and support which met people’s needs. Staff had effectively assessed risks to people’s health and well-being, which enabled staff to manage them safely. People experienced good continuity and consistency of care from regular staff who knew them well and how they wished their care to be delivered. Robust recruitment checks ensured prospective staff were suitable to provide support for people in their own homes. People received their prescribed medicines from staff who had their competence to manage medicines safely regularly assessed. Staff had raised concerns and reported incidents, which ensured action was taken to protect people. We were assured that staff followed safe infection control and food hygiene practices.

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.

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 good (published 20 January 2020).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services which have had a recent Direct Monitoring Approach (DMA) assessment where no further action was needed to seek assurance about this decision and to identify learning about the DMA process.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Mayfair Homecare Newbury is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older adults, people living with dementia and people living with a physical disability. Not everyone who uses the service receives personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal support with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 32 people living in the Newbury, Thatcham, Reading and surrounding areas.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Since our last inspection, the registered manager had reviewed the provider’s recruitment processes. This ensured more thorough checks were made to assure staff employed were of good character, suitable to support vulnerable people in their own homes. People were supported by enough staff who knew them well and how to meet their needs.

The registered manager had improved governance systems to drive effective quality assurance processes and continuous improvement within the service. The management team effectively collaborated with key organisations to ensure the safe and effective delivery of people’s care.

People consistently told us they were safe and trusted their care staff. Staff had received required training and understood their responsibilities to safeguard people from discrimination, harm and abuse. Risks to people had been identified, assessed and measures had been put in place to ensure these were reduced and managed safely. People received their prescribed medicines safely, from staff who had completed the required training and had their competency to do so regularly assessed. Staff adhered to the provider’s infection control policy and used the appropriate equipment and clothing, whenever required. Staff had completed food safety training and correct procedures were followed wherever food was prepared. Staff understood their responsibilities to raise concerns about safety incidents and near misses, to ensure lessons were shared and required action was taken to improve safety across relevant parts of the service.

Staff had the necessary skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs. The registered manager operated a system of training, supervision, appraisal and competency assessments, which enabled staff to provide good quality care. Staff promoted people's health by supporting people to access health care services when required and by encouraging people to eat a healthy diet.

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.

Staff effectively involved people in decisions about their care, which ensured their human rights were upheld.

Staff consistently treated people with kindness and respect. People were supported to express their views about their care and their wishes were respected. People's privacy and dignity were respected and promoted during the delivery of their care.

People received personalised care that was responsive to their individual needs and preferences. Staff encouraged social contact and companionship, which ensured people maintained relationships important to them. Staff enabled people to raise concerns and complaints, which were used to improve people's experience of the care they received. The service was not supporting anyone with end of life care. However, people had the opportunity to discuss their wishes and preferences in this regard, which were reviewed regularly.

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 requires improvement (report published 29 March 2019) and there were two breaches of regulation. 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 required improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Since the previous rating was awarded the provider has altered its legal entity. This was just a name change and everything else remained the same in the service. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned comprehensive inspection based on the previous rating and the change of legal entity. Our previous inspection (report published 29 March 2019) was a responsive, focussed inspection, prompted by the notification of an incident, in which a person using the service was subject to alleged abuse. This incident is still subject to a criminal investigation and as a result this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of safe care and risk. This inspection examined those risks. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. The previous comprehensive inspection rated the service to be good (report published 24 August 2017). You can read the report from our last comprehensive and focussed inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Mayfair Homecare Newbury, on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.