BS Care Limited

Updated 6 July 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, an assistant inspector and two Experts by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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 had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 28 May 2021 and ended on 15 June 2021. We visited the office location on 03 June 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection including previous inspection reports, safeguarding concerns and notifications. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 14 people who used the service and nine relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 12 members of staff including the nominated individual, registered manager, deputy manager, office staff and care workers. 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 15 people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data, accident and incident records, safeguarding records, policies and procedures, staffing rotas and schedules and quality assurance records. We received feedback from three external professionals.

Updated 6 July 2021

About the service

BS Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency which provides support and personal care to people living in their own home. Not everyone using BS Care Limited received a regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; 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 137 people were receiving a regulated activity from the service.

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

People were generally satisfied with the service they received. The management team had processes for monitoring visits and endeavoured to ensure that office staff contacted people when care staff were held up or were running late for visits. However, we received mixed feedback about the timing and consistency of call times from people and their relatives. Staff also told us they did not have enough time in between visits for travel. Some improvement was required to make call times more consistent for people. We recommended the provider review staff schedules to improve outcomes for people and ensure staff had enough time to travel between visits.

People received support from caring staff who were appropriately trained and received an induction into their role. Appropriate recruitment procedures were in place to help ensure only suitable staff were employed.

Staff were aware of risks to people's safety and wellbeing and acted to minimise these risks. People felt safe with the staff and the care and support provided. Potential risks to people's safety had been assessed, managed and monitored to ensure their needs were met.

People told us they received safe care and felt that if they raised concerns, the management

team would act promptly to address these. People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse and staff knew how to raise any concerns with the management team.

Staff promoted people's independence and respected their rights, privacy and dignity. Staff knew people well and valued people’s individual lifestyle choices and culture.

A new system had been introduced to improve medicine administration checks. People received their medicines as prescribed and infection control risks were managed effectively.

Staff supported people to access healthcare professionals when they needed to, and worked alongside social care professionals to ensure a joined-up approach to people's care.

The provider had a quality assurance system. This included regular spot checks, audits and feedback surveys.

The registered manager was aware of their responsibilities in meeting their legal obligations.

They showed commitment and welcomed feedback to improve the quality of care people received and the overall 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 01 February 2020) and there was a breach of regulation. 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 regulations.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led, which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for BS Care Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.