My Homecare Halifax

Updated 15 February 2022

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

One inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. 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 CQC. 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 the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 15 December 2021 and ended on 22 December 2021. We visited the office location on 15 December 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from Healthwatch and the local authority commissioning and safeguarding team. 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. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

During the inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including the registered manager, care co-ordinator, field care supervisor and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 15 February 2022

About the service

Holmfield mills Holmfield Halifax HX36SN offces 3.12 and 3.13 (known as My Homecare Halifax) is a domiciliary care agency providing support to people in their own homes in the community. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. Care Quality Commission (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 the inspection the service was providing personal care to 16 people.

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

The service had improved areas relating to how they managed medicines and risks to people, infection, prevention and control, recruitment of workers and governance since the previous inspection. Further improvements were needed to make sure the service was consistently good. Safe recruitment procedures were usually followed to ensure staff were suitable to work at the service. The registered manager was introducing additional measures to make sure every recruitment process was robust. The service had enough staff to meet people’s needs and usually the same care workers visited so people received continuity of care. Risks were usually assessed and managed, and people received their medicines as prescribed. The service followed safe infection, prevention and control procedures. People felt safe when care workers visited.

People and their relatives were happy with the service and leadership. Systems to measure the quality and safety of services provided were driving improvement but many were new and still needed to embed to guarantee consistently. Staff were well supported in their role.

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 inadequate (published 8 June 2021) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

This service has been in Special Measures since June 2021. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check whether the Warning Notices we previously served in relation to Regulation 17 and 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met and the provider had made improvements and now met legal requirements in relation to Regulation 12. 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 inadequate to requires improvement. 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 Holmfield mills Holmfield Halifax HX36SN offces 3.12 and 3.13 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.