Archived: Allied Healthcare Stafford

Updated 15 August 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in. We also needed to ensure that consent was gained from people who used the service to enable us to make telephone calls to them.

Inspection site visit activity started on 20 June 2018 and ended on 02 July 2018. This included telephone calls with people and/or their relatives and we called staff to assess their knowledge of people they supported and the procedures they needed to follow. We visited the office location on 20 June 2018 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information included we held about the service, such as feedback from staff and people. We also checked any notifications we had received from the provider about events that had happened at the service, which the provider is required to send us by law. For example, serious injuries, safeguarding concerns and changes to the service provided.

We spoke with 11 people who use the service and five relatives. We also spoke with five staff, the registered manager, the care delivery director and the head of quality management and compliance. We viewed six records about people’s care and records that showed how the home was managed. This included training and induction records for four staff employed at the service.

Updated 15 August 2018

We carried out an announced inspection at Allied Healthcare Stafford on the 20 June 2018, 21 June 2018, 25 June 2018 and 2 July 2018. This was the first ratings inspection since the provider had registered with us in September 2016.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. At the time of the inspection there were 51 people receiving a service.

Not everyone using Allied Healthcare Stafford receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

There was a registered manager at the service who was also a registered manager at another location under the same provider. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We found that there were not effective systems in place to monitor and manage the service. This meant there was a risk that unsafe and ineffective care was not always identified and acted on. People's records did not always contain accurate and up to date information and improvements were needed to ensure there were effective communication systems in place.

People and staff told us there were not sufficient staff available to provide support in a consistent, unrushed way that met people’s preferences. Improvements were needed to ensure unfamiliar staff were aware of people’s risks to enable staff to lower the risk of harm.

The provider was not always following the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. This meant that people were at risk of receiving care that was not in their best interests. We found that staff had received training. However, improvements were needed to ensure staff were trained to meet people’s specific needs. Improvements were needed to ensure staff were aware of changes in people’s needs and people’s preferences were not always met as recorded in their plans of care.

The provider had systems in place to gain information about people’s cultural and diverse needs to enable a holistic approach to people's care. The provider had safe recruitment procedures in place which ensured people were supported by staff of a suitable character.

People were supported to eat and drink sufficient amounts and nutritional risks were assessed and monitored. People’s health was monitored and health professionals input was sought where needed to ensure their wellbeing was maintained. Staff were aware of their responsibilities to protect people from the risk of harm and infection control measures were in place to protect people from the potential risk of cross infection.

People’s choices were promoted and respected by staff in a way that promoted people’s individual communication needs. People’s dignity was maintained and their right to privacy was upheld. People and relatives knew how to complain and the provider had a complaints procedure in place.

Staff felt able to approach the registered manager and felt supported in their role. Staff performance was monitored and discussed to ensure people received their planned care. The registered manager was aware of their responsibilities of their registration with us.

We found there were two breaches in Regulations of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.