Pennine Homecare

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.

Pennine Homecare is a small domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people living in their own houses and flats in the community.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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 the inspection, the service was supporting four people.

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

We found evidence that the provider needed to make improvement to their recruitment and selection processes. Whilst we found no evidence that people had been harmed, the processes were not robust enough to demonstrate the recruitment of staff was safely managed. This had resulted in a breach of regulation. Please see the safe section of this report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this report.

The provider was aware that the quality monitoring systems had not been effective in identifying shortfalls in areas such as record keeping and recruitment; the provider told us action was planned to improve this area.

People told us they were happy and felt safe. Without exception, people made positive comments about the staff and were complimentary of the support they received. They said staff were kind, skilled and friendly. The values of the service were known to staff and people using the service. Staff told us they received support from the management team and they enjoyed working at the service. People and staff told us the service was well-managed and they would recommend it to others. Management and staff planned and promoted person-centred care to ensure good outcomes for people.

Safeguarding adults’ procedures were in place and staff understood how to protect people from abuse. There were enough numbers of staff deployed to meet people's needs in a punctual, consistent and flexible way and to ensure their safety. People received their medicines when they needed them from staff who had been trained and had their competency checked. Risk assessments were carried out to enable people to retain their independence and receive support with minimum risk to themselves or others.

People were given choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People’s care and support needs were assessed prior to them using the service to ensure their needs could be met. Arrangements were in place to ensure staff received ongoing training and support. People were supported at mealtimes in line with their support plan and staff worked in partnership with healthcare professionals, when needed.

Management and staff had developed friendly, caring and respectful relationships with people using the service and their families. Staff knew about people’s backgrounds and about their routines and preferences; this made sure people’s care was tailored to their specific needs. People, or their family members, had been consulted about their care needs and had been involved in the support planning process.

People had access to a range of activities in line with their support plan. People did not have any complaints about the service they received. They had access to a complaint’s procedure and were confident they could raise any complaints, concerns and compliments.

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

Why we inspected

This service was registered with us on 15 October 2018, and this is the first inspection.

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.