Archived: EcoClean Community Care

Updated 3 March 2020

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.

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 the service 48 hours’ 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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and 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 one person and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three members of staff including the registered manager and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four 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.

Updated 3 March 2020

About the service

EcoClean is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to 32 people at the time of the inspection. Of these, 20 received regulated activity.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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.

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

Although we found there had been improvements in the service, shortfalls remained in the governance of the service. Quality assurance checks had not been effective enough to identify and address concerns, to drive all the necessary improvements forward in a timely way.

Risks to people were assessed but actions for staff to take were unclear and risk assessments were not always in place.

The provider did not conduct mental capacity assessments or best interests decisions for people who may lack the capacity to make decisions about their care and support. Therefore, people were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not always support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.

Care plans we saw contained good person centred detail about their routines, preferences and how staff were to support them. However, records did not always contain consistent information.

People received their medicines as prescribed, and staff had sufficient training and support to meet peoples needs. There were enough staff deployed to meet people’s needs.

Care plans took into account people’s diverse characteristics and backgrounds. Staff promoted people’s dignity and independence.

There was a complaints policy in place and complaints were managed in line with the service's policies and procedures.

We made a recommendation with regards to risk assessment.

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 September 2018) and there were three breaches of the regulations identified. 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 that although some improvements had been made and was no longer in breach of some regulations, the provider was still in breach of regulation 17 and a new breach of regulation was identified (regulation 11).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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 with the 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.