Surrey Care - Fleet Also known as Surrey Care Partnership Ltd - Leatherhead

Surrey Care - Fleet is a domiciliary care service providing personal care. The service provides support to younger and older adults, people with a physical disability or a sensory impairment, people with dementia, people with an eating disorder and people with a learning disability or autism. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people using the service.

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.

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

The provider had not ensured all potential risks to people were assessed and mitigated, nor had staff always reported incidents as required. Staff did not always maintain accurate and complete records of the care provided. The provider had not ensured the proper and safe management of medicines for people.

People had not always received their care for the time commissioned and staff were not all sufficiently competent and skilled. The registered manager had not always ensured staff were competent before they worked alone with people. The registered manager had not ensured any potential risks associated with the completion of criminal record checks in the UK for staff recruited from overseas were fully mitigated.

The registered manager who worked in partnership with their business partner, the managing director, had failed to fully assess, monitor and mitigate risks arising from the provision of the regulated activity or to ensure governance systems were operated robustly.

Staff had completed safeguarding training and policies and processes were in place. However, the registered manager had always recognised potential risks to people. Staff had completed infection control training and checks were made on their practice, however, feedback from people and relatives showed there was inconsistency in staff’s practice.

The provider was registered to provide care to people with a learning disability or autism or an eating disorder. However, they had not and did not intend to provide care to people with these care needs. They had updated their statement of purpose to reflect this change. However, they also needed to notify CQC of this change to their registration.

Staff supported people to eat and drink sufficient for their needs. Staff identified if people needed to be referred to professionals and referrals were completed. Staff worked with professionals in the delivery of people’s care. 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 and relatives provided positive feedback overall about how staff treated people. Staff treated people with dignity and respect. People were supported to express their views.

We have made 2 recommendations about the need to ensure staff are appropriately matched to people who have additional communication needs and to consider how they record who was involved in people’s care planning.

People received care which was planned with them, taking into account their protected characteristics, in order to identify their needs. People’s concerns and complaints were logged and required actions were taken. The service was not commissioned to provide end of life care to people.

Processes were in place to seek people's feedback about the service. A range of aspects of the service were audited, to identify potential areas for improvement.

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

This service was registered with us on 7 January 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about people’s safety, the quality of care provided, staff training, duration of care calls, medication administration and staff’s use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care, staffing and governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.