5 April 2023
During a routine inspection
Shining Star Home Care Limited is a care at home service providing the regulated activity of personal care to people. The service provides support to younger and older adults, some of whom may have dementia.
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. At the time of our inspection there were 10 people using the service, 8 of whom received personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The provider processes and systems for governance and collaborative working with external stakeholders required strengthening. The provider needed to extend their knowledge of social care policy and procedures, to ensure they worked effectively with professionals involved in people’s care.
Other aspects of the service which required improvement was around the providers understanding of safe recruitment and when specific incidents were notifiable to the CQC. Improvements were needed to daily record keeping and the overall monitoring and reviewing of people’s records.
People told us they felt safe and supported by the staff who cared for them. Staff had a good understanding of how they protected people from harm and recognised different types of abuse and how to report it. Potential risks to people had been identified through assessments, however how this information was shared with people required improvement. There were enough staff on shifts to keep people safe and meet their needs safely. The provider did not have consistent assurances that people’s medicines were managed in a safe way. Safe practice was carried out to reduce the risk of infection. Where incidents had happened, lessons had been learnt and shared with the staff group. Recruitment checks for staff required further work to make this more robust.
Where people had support with their meals, they were given food they enjoyed. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.
Changes in people’s care were communicated clearly and promptly to the staff team. Staff respected people’s choices they made about their care. Staff were trained to support people with their end of life care. People had access to information about how to raise a complaint.
People, relatives and staff told us the provider and registered manager was approachable and responsive to requests. They told us how they felt the provider had a caring approach to all those involved in 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
This service was registered with us on 25 June 2021 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We have identified a breach in relation to the governance of the service 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 from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.