Recruit4care

Updated 19 August 2023

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 completed by one inspector and an Expert by Experience in the care of older people, who made telephone calls to people to gain their views about the service. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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. The registered manager was also the provider’s nominated individual. A nominated individual is legally responsible for the service on behalf of the provider.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 6 June 2023 and ended on 20 June 2023. We visited the location's office on 6 and 13 June 2023.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service, including registration reports and notifications. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us. We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 10 August 2022 and registration reports to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 8 people (or their family members) about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 2 external professionals and 4 staff members. We spoke with the registered person, provider and 3 office staff members.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people's care records, and records relating to the management of the service such as policies and procedures and 3 staff files in relation to recruitment, training and staff supervision.

Updated 19 August 2023

About the service

Recruit4care is a domiciliary care agency which provides support and personal care to people living in their own home. The Care Quality Commission (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. At the time of our inspection 16 people were receiving a regulated activity from this service.

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

Although people that received support from Recruit4care were happy with the care they received, we found shortfalls in the safety and management of the service which placed people at risk of harm.

People were at risk due to poor governance and record keeping at the service. The provider and registered person told us there were no formal quality assurance systems. This meant systems were not in place to identify areas for development and to ensure improvements were made.

Some records we requested were not available, meaning we could not be assured care had been provided in line with people's care assessments, plans, needs, wishes and choices. Risk assessments were not used to identify and reduce risks to people. Safe systems for the management of all prescribed medicines were not in place.

Necessary pre-employment checks had not been completed prior to staff commencing work with vulnerable people. Sufficient staff were employed and they had received appropriate training.

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; however, formal systems were not in place to assess people's mental capacity and ability to consent to care.

The registered person and provider acknowledged the above shortfalls during the inspection and agreed to introduced changes to improve the service.

People and their family members were all positive about the caring nature of the staff. People told us they were always treated with dignity and respect.

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 7 December 2020 and this was their first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date the service was registered and when it commenced providing a personal care service to people living in their own homes.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to the safe recruitment of staff, risk assessments, mental capacity, medicines management and the governance and quality monitoring of the service.

Please see the actions 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.