30 December 2019
During a routine inspection
Universal Care Services Hinckley is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to 251 younger adults and older people with dementia, physical disabilities, mental health needs, sensory impairments and learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder.
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
There was no registered manager in post. The provider had appointed an acting manager that had applied to be registered with the CQC. They supported the provider to monitor the quality of the service and ensure the regulatory requirements were met. Quality assurance systems and processes identified where improvements were needed and action was taken to address these. However, we found further improvements were required to improve call times, prevent missed calls, respond to calls to the office and the recording of medicines.
People told us they received their medicines as prescribed. However, staff did not always record medicines administration on the correct documentation. The service had identified this and acted to address it. However, further improvements were required including the implementation of an electronic Medicines Administration Record (MAR) whereby office staff would be alerted if medicines were not administered.
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 offered people choice’s when delivering their care.
Staff knew how to recognise, and report suspected abuse. They had been safely recruited and had access to the training they needed to meet people’s individual care needs. Staff had a good knowledge of people’s moving and handling needs. Staff had access to personal protective equipment to minimise and control the spread of infection. Staff felt well supported by the management team.
People were supported to eat and drink enough by staff that knew their preferences and wishes, they ensured people had snacks and drinks available before they left their home. Staff contacted health professionals as needed and had received specific training to meet people’s individual needs.
People were supported by staff that were kind and caring. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and involved them in decisions about their care. Staff knew people’s hobbies, interests, preferences and wishes.
There had been improvements in the management of complaints. These were managed in line with the providers complaints policy. Some people found it difficult to contact the office to discuss their day to day care needs or raise concerns.
Staff knew how to provide person centred care, and the information included in people’s care plans about their likes, dislikes, hobbies and interests assisted with this. Staff enjoyed spending time with people.
The service understood their requirements in relation to duty of candour and were open and honest with us during our inspection. They worked with partner agencies such as commissioners and healthcare professionals to meet the needs of the people receiving care from 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 requires improvement (Published 29 October 2018) and there were breaches of regulation. Since this rating was awarded the service has moved premises and changed its name from Universal Care Services Nuneaton to Universal Care Services Hinckley.
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 regulation.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the 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.