Pennine Homecare

Updated 24 October 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

One inspector undertook the inspection.

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 provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

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

Prior to the inspection we checked the information we held about the service and sought feedback from professionals. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 1 person and 3 relatives and we asked for feedback from 2 professionals. We contacted all of the staff for feedback via email and over the telephone. We received feedback from 8 care support staff, the operations manager and the register manager who was also the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We looked at a range of records. These included, 2 care records and associated documentation. We also reviewed 3 staff files, the training records as well as records relating to the operation and oversight of the service.

Updated 24 October 2023

About the service

Pennine Homecare is a domiciliary care service providing personal care for children 13-18 years, children 4-12 years, people living with a dementia, people living with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, mental health, older people, people who misuse drugs and alcohol, physical disability and younger adults; in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, they were supporting 10 people with personal care. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support: Model of Care and setting that maximises people’s choice, control and independence

Medicines were being managed safely, individual and environmental risk assessments had been completed. Systems had been developed to ensure allegations of abuse and incidents and accidents were managed.

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. People had agreed to care and support and consent had been recorded. People’s communication needs were met. Activities were provided when this was part of their care plan.

Right Care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights

We have made a recommendation about recording that risks had been assessed in relation to staff recruitment. Sufficient staff were in place. People received good care and their individual needs were supported. Staff had undertaken relevant training to support people’s individual care needs.

Information about advocacy services was available to support people with important decisions. Relevant professionals were involved. Assessments of people’s needs had been undertaken.

Care records contained information to support the delivery of care to people, the registered manager immediately reviewed and up dated 1 person’s care plan to ensure it reflected their current needs.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.

We made a recommendation in relation to ensuring notifications are submitted in a timely manner. People were confident in the knowledge and skills of the staff team. A system to deal with complaints was in place. Feedback was requested by the service. Staff were engaged and involved. We received very positive feedback about the registered manager and the management of the service.

Audits were being undertaken and the registered manager provided a copy of a recently completed staff file audit.

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 25 September 2019) and we identified breaches of regulations.

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 regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good, based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Pennine Homecare on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Recommendations

We made recommendations in relation to submitting notifications and staff recruitment.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.