HQ Priory Care Services

Updated 5 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 undertaken 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 72 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 5 February 2020 and ended on 13 February 2020. We visited the office location on 5 February 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection, including notifications received about key events that occurred at the service and the action plan submitted following their last inspection. 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 took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people and five relatives about their experience of care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, the field care supervisor, the care coordinator, and four care workers. We reviewed a range of records including six people’s care records, four staff files and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

Updated 5 March 2020

HQ Priory Services is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 59 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

New processes were in place to identify and manage risks to people’s safety. This included liaising with health and social care professionals if staff identified changes in people’s health or risk behaviour. New medicines management processes had been implemented to ensure people received their medicines as prescribed. Safe recruitment practices were now in place and there were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. Staff followed safeguarding adults’ procedures and adhered to incident reporting processes. Staff adhered to infection prevention and control procedures.

Staff were now in adherence with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. 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 had attended refresher training and were supported to attend training courses and develop their knowledge and skills. Staff assessed people’s needs in line with best practice guidance. Where people required, staff supported people with their nutritional needs and supported them to access health services.

People were complimentary about their care workers and the relationships they had formed. Staff took account of people’s individual differences when allocating care workers. People were involved in decisions about their care and how they were supported. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity, and enabled them to be as independent as possible.

Care records had been reviewed and improved. Staff worked with people and their relatives to identify their care needs and how they wished to be supported. There were regular care reviews to ensure people’s records reflected their current needs. Staff adhered to the accessible information standard. There were processes in place to manage and learn from complaints.

A new registered manager and field care supervisor were in post which provided a new approach to management and oversight of the service. New robust systems had been introduced to review the quality of care delivery and ensure continuous improvement. An open and honest culture had been developed which encouraged staff, people and their relatives to provide feedback about the service. The registered manager was aware of their CQC registration requirements and their responsibilities under the duty of candour.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (Published 28 February 2019).

The provider completed an action plan after our 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 and to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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.