Care with Pride

Updated 3 January 2024

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 1 inspector and 1 Expert by Experience who made phone calls to people and relatives. 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service a short period of notice of our intention to undertake an inspection This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 30 October 2023 and ended on 1 December 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 7 people who used the service and 2 relatives about their experience of care provided. We received email feedback from 3 care staff. We spoke with 3 members of staff including a care workers, a supervisor, and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people’s care records. We looked at 2 recruitment files. We also reviewed a range of documents relating to the management of the service including policies and procedures and the provider’s training matrix. We continued to source information and clarification from the registered manager throughout the assessment period.

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video and telephone calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.’ Inspection activity started on 30 October 2023 and concluded on 1 December 2023 when feedback was given to the registered manager.

Updated 3 January 2024

About the service

Care with Pride is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides support to people living with dementia, older people, younger adults and people living with physical disabilities and sensory impairment. At the time of our inspection there were 28 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

People were at risk of poor care and support because governance systems were not effective and needed strengthening. Although audits were taking place they had failed to identify the issues we found during our inspection, in relation to: poor staff recruitment practices, an incomplete log of incidents, a lack of personalised care plans, risk assessment and medicine records.

Risks associated with people's care was assessed but the provider needed to ensure risks regarding specific health conditions, were assessed fully and staff had the correct information to care for people in a safe way.

There were enough staff to meet people’s care and support needs.

People felt safe with the care and support provided by the service. All staff had received safeguarding training and knew how to protect people from harm.

The services infection prevention and control policies and protocols were being adhered to, ensuring both staff and people using the service were protected from cross contamination.

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 had completed core training. Observational checks of staff practice were taking place.

Feedback was sought from people and their relatives about the quality of the care, and action taken to improve the service.

The service worked with a wide range of key organisations who were also involved in people’s care.

People and relatives were positive about the registered manager. Staff felt supported by the manager who they found approachable.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 16 January 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

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

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified a breach in relation to the management oversight of the service at this inspection. We have also made recommendations that the provider considers guidance in relation to recruitment of new staff and ensuring information relating to risks and safety is up to date.

Please see 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.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.