Telopea MSL

Updated 14 November 2019

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector and one assistant inspector.

Service and service type

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

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave a three-day notice period of the inspection as we wanted to speak to people prior to the site visit and needed to give people notice that we would be calling them. Inspection activity started on 16 October 2019 and ended on 24 October 2019. We visited the office location on 21 October 2019.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with eleven people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with nine members of staff including the registered manager, compliance manager, senior care workers and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included nine people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

We continued to seek clarification from the provider during the inspection period to validate evidence found in relation to agency staff employment checks. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with two professionals who regularly visit the service.

Updated 14 November 2019

About the service

Telopea MSL is a domiciliary care agency providing personal and nursing care to 92 people at the time of the inspection. 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

People told us they felt safe because they had care staff who were reliable and arrived on-time and never missed a care visit. Staff understood how to keep people safe and how to report any concerns. Risks related to people’s health conditions were well managed and monitored. People confirmed they received their medicines correctly and on time.

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 were trained and had good knowledge of people needs and preferences and were able to support these. People told us staff had good communication skills and worked together with other professionals to ensure seamless care.

People were treated kindly, with compassion and at a pace suited to individual needs. Care was flexible to meet peoples changing needs and their wishes were listened to and respected. Care was personalised and people felt confident to raise a concern if required.

People had built trusting relationships with staff members and the registered manager and the staff team knew people and their individual preferences well. People were asked regularly for their views about the care. These were considered to help drive improvements and continual learning.

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 (published 13 December 2018) and there were multiple 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 improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.