Caring Connections Wigan

Caring Connections Wigan is a domiciliary care company, who are part of Caring Connections, a registered charity who provide care services within the Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester areas. Caring Connections Wigan provides personal care and support to people 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. At the time of our inspection there were 139 people in receipt of personal care and therefore included in the inspection.

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

We found improvements were required with the timings of people’s care visits, as these were not always completed in line with the agreed times as stated in their care plan. The provider’s audit process had not always identified these issues as actions had not been generated to drive improvements.

People and relatives told us the service provided safe care which met their needs. Staff received training in safeguarding and knew how to identify and report concerns. Risks to people had been assessed with guidance for staff to follow to ensure people’s safety. Medicines were administered safely by staff who had been trained and assessed as competent. Medicines records were not always completed correctly, although this had been identified through audits and monitoring.

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 receiving support with food and drink were happy with the assistance provided. Staff received the necessary training and support to provide safe and effective care. However, it was not clear whether staff had received supervision in line with the provider’s policy.

We have made a recommendation about the completion of staff supervision.

People and relatives were complimentary about the care and the staff who provided this. Care staff were described as kind, considerate and friendly. People told us their privacy and dignity were respected and care staff offered them choices and promoted their independence, as much as possible.

Care files explained how people wanted to be supported and contained lots of person-centred information, to ensure care staff knew people as individuals. Information was available in a range of formats to ensure it was accessible to all. The complaints process was provided to people at the beginning of their care package. Each person or relative we spoke with knew how to raise concerns, and where they had, told us improvements had been made.

People, relatives and staff were largely positive about the management of the service and support provided. A range of systems and processes were used to monitor the quality and effectiveness of the service. Some shortfalls with these had been identified by the provider and a new system introduced to better capture issues and actions taken. We noted a number of ways in which people and relatives were involved in the care provided. Additional services were offered to people and the wider public, to support their wellbeing.

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 3 March 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. The inspection was carried out in order to provide an initial rating for the service.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified a breach in relation to the timings of people’s care visits.

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.