About the service Goldsmith Personnel Limited (Oxfordshire) is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own home. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 27 people.
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
The provider's quality assurance systems and processes to monitor the service had not been effective. There was no clear plan in place to check that people’s records were up to date and reviewed on a regular basis and that care workers were supported through regular refresher training, supervision and checks on their work. Audits had not been part of the monitoring of the service and the provider had not overseen the service to ensure it was running appropriately. The provider took steps, following the first day of the inspection, to start to address the issues.
Staff understood their responsibilities to identify and report any concerns. The provider had recruitment and selection processes in place, although these needed to be monitored to ensure the recruitment information obtained was checked.
Care plans detailed people's support needs and how care workers should support people to meet those needs. Information varied, with some records being very informative whilst others were written more broadly and lacked details on people's individual preferences.
Risks to people's safety and well-being were managed through a risk management process. However, where people required two care workers to mobilise them safely, this had not always been carried out.
Feedback from people, relatives and professionals was positive about the service. People said there had been some changes with the office staff and care workers. However, for most of the time people were happy with the support they received from the care workers.
People told us the care workers were caring and kind. Their commitment and knowledge enabled people to receive a good level of care. The registered manager had supported people to remain in their own homes and enjoy a better quality of life.
There had been no missed visits to people and people said visits were generally on time.
The registered manager and staff team worked with GPs and other healthcare professionals to ensure people's changing needs were safely and effectively met. Medicines were managed safely, and people received their medicines as prescribed.
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.
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 9 May 2017).
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Goldsmith Personnel Limited (Oxfordshire) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Enforcement
We have identified a breach in relation to regulation 17 (Good governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
The provider was responsive to the findings of the inspection and had developed an action plan during the inspection process to work on the areas needing to be improved.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.