16 August 2022
During a routine inspection
My Horizon Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults living in their own homes. 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. During our inspection visit, the service was caring for 10 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Feedback from people and most relatives was that care provided was safe and they were confident any concerns raised would be acted upon immediately.
Medication was managed well overall. However, after reviewing all the evidence gathered, we have made a recommendation for the registered manager to make improvements in the recording of medication when this task is the joint responsibility between the provider and relatives of people using the service, to ensure it is in line with best practice and guidance.
Most relevant risks to people’s care were assessed and measures put in place to manage those risks. Staff had a good understanding of how to support people safely and knew what to do if they had concerns about people's safety. Staff had completed safeguarding training and knew how to report concerns. The provider ensured staff followed safe infection control practices and had enough personal protective equipment (PPE).
Staff were recruited safely. People and relatives told us staff mostly arrived on time however, some commented care workers sometimes rushed in and out during their visits. People and relatives told us the service had a positive impact on their lives and staff were kind and caring.
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 felt well supported by management. There was a system in place to ensure staff were inducted and shadowed other experienced members of staff. Staff received varied training. The registered manager told us additional training would be put in place for staff, if required, to meet the needs of new care packages.
Regular audits on care, medication and staff's approach were being conducted. However, we found issues identified regarding the recording of medication had not been identified and addressed previously.
Relatives and people knew the manager and most told us they were approachable. The registered manager told us about their plans to continue developing the service.
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 ‘Insufficient evidence to rate’ (published on 17 December 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. 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
The inspection was prompted in part by notification of an incident following which a person using the service died. This incident is subject to initial inquiries to determine whether to commence a criminal investigation. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risks to people’s care and medication. This inspection examined those risks.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.