Background to this inspection
Updated
27 October 2021
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
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency and live in care service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means the Provider is 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.
Inspection activity started on 17 September 2021 and ended on 29 September 2021. We visited the office location on 20 September 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We carried out some direct monitoring activity prior to the inspection which provided us with views of people, relatives, and staff as well as local commissioners and the local authority. We also looked at various documents and records and held an interview with the registered manager.
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with two people and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff including the manager and the operations manager. We reviewed a range of records including four staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision, call logs, four care plans and associated risk assessments. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records and made further calls to one person, three relatives and three staff.
Updated
27 October 2021
About the service
Novus Care Limited – Godalming & Live in Care is a domiciliary and live in care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection, the service was providing support to 30 people.
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 had not been receiving a good standard of care, or at their preferred time. Support calls had often been carried out in half the time allocated. When complaints had been made, people hadn’t received a timely or adequate response.
Care plans did not include information to guide staff how to provide safe care and support. Risk assessments lacked detail about specific conditions, and guidance for staff on how to reduce risks were not included.
Management oversight had not been effective in identifying issues.. There were no recording process for complaints received and some accidents and incidents records were missing. The relevant authorities had not always been notified of reportable events.
People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not 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.
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 good (published 3 October 2019).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to staffing levels and management oversight. As a result, we undertook some direct monitoring activity followed by a focussed inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service has changed from good to Requires Improvement. 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 Novus Care Godalming on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection.
We have identified breaches in relation to safe care, staffing and governance at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
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 alongside the provider and 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.