Background to this inspection
Updated
9 March 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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
This inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors and 2 Experts by Experience. 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 homes.
Registered manager
This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.
At the time of our inspection there was 4 registered managers in post.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection. This was to request information about the service, and people, and to make sure the provider or registered manager would be available to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 22 February 2023 and ended on 02 March 2023. We visited the office location on 22 February 2023.
What we did before the inspection
We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 information gathered as part of a monitoring activity that took place on 27 April 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with 11 people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also received feedback from two staff.
We reviewed a range of records this included 3 people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment. We looked at staff training data and quality assurance records.
Updated
9 March 2023
About the service
Care Preference Ltd is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides planned visits and 24-hour support to people who may be living with a neuromuscular disease or other physical disabilities.
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. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people receiving personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People spoke positively about the service and felt it was safe and staff were caring. One person told us, “The carers are dedicated. They are very reliable and provide high quality care.” Another person said, “I am absolutely [safe]. They do everything and anything I ask them to do. Staff are top quality.”
People's safety was promoted because care was person-centred and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare. Potential risks that people faced had been identified, assessed and were regularly reviewed, and staff knew how to keep people safe from abuse or harm.
Safe recruitment processes were followed and there were enough appropriately trained staff to meet people's individual needs. Medicines when needed were dispensed and administered by staff who had received training to do so.
Staff had good access to personal protective equipment to manage the risks associated with the spread 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 service was well-led by a management team who maintained good oversight of the service and were passionate about delivering quality care and achieving the best possible outcomes for people.
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 17 December 2019) and there was a breach 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 regulation.
Why we inspected
We carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service on 22, 23 and 30 October 2019. Breaches of a legal requirement were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve regulation 17 (Good governance). We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements.
This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements. For the key question not inspected, we used the rating awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Care Preference Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.