Background to this inspection
Updated
10 December 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
This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.
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 did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. The provider told us a new manager would commence their role in December 2021. 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 visit because it is a domiciliary care provider and the provider is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started on 4 October 2021 and ended on 8 October 2021. We visited the office location on 8 October 2021 to see the provider and staff; and to review care records, policies and procedures.
What we did before the inspection
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 asked the local authority and Healthwatch for any information they had which would aid our inspection. Local authorities together with other agencies may have responsibility for funding people who used the service and monitoring its quality. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with four people who used the service, two relatives and a friend of a person who used the service. We spoke with six care staff, the area manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.
We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care plans. Two staff files to review the provider’s recruitment procedures. In addition, we looked at a variety of documents relating to the management of the service, including quality monitoring checks.
Updated
10 December 2021
About the service
Lord’s Care Solutions Stoke on Trent is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older people.
CQC only inspects the service received by people provided with 'personal care.' For example, help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection 44 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The registered manager left their post in September 2021. The provider told us a new manager would commence their role in December 2021. The provider acknowledged there had been a lack of oversight which, led to some deterioration in the quality of the service. Quality assurance systems were not always effective to ensure people received a safe service.
People could not be confident their care needs would be met because they experienced missed or late calls due to insufficient staffing levels. People were not always assured they would be treated with kindness.
There was a delay in addressing things when they went wrong. However, the provider acknowledged shortfalls within the service and was taking action to address them. Staff supported people with their meals, but people did not always receive their meals at their preferred times.
Staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE), but practices placed people at risk of contracting avoidable infections.
People were involved in their needs assessment but not everyone’s needs were met the way they liked. However, people’s consent for care, and treatment was obtained.
People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives because care and support was not always delivered the way they liked. The current management team were unaware people had not been supported to have choices and control of their lives.
Induction of new staff were carried out and they had access to routine training.
People had access to relevant healthcare services to promote their physical and mental health. People were supported to take their medicines by skilled staff and risk assessments were in place to reduce or mitigate the risk to them.
Staff had a good understanding of how to safeguard people from the risk of potential harm. People’s complaints were listened to, taken seriously and acted on.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 8 June 2021 and this is the first inspection.
This was a planned inspection based on our published inspection methodology.
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.