9 December 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
The Angels on Call is a care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection 16 people were being supported.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were not always supported safely when staff administered medicines. For one person, the processes in place for medicine administration were not robust and did not allow staff to effectively check the medicines they were administering. This was addressed by the provider following our inspection.
There had been improvements in the way the majority of people’s medicines were managed since our last inspection.
The risks to people’s safety had been assessed and measures were in place to safely support them. There were improved processes to ensure people were protected from possible financial abuse and staff had received safeguarding adults training.
There were enough adequately trained staff to support people and the recruitment processes had improved, so people were supported by suitable people.
People were protected from the risks of infection as the provider had followed national guidance about the management of COVID - 19, ensuring staff were following best infection prevention and control practices.
There had been improved oversight of the service and the provider had over the last six months introduced a more robust quality monitoring process. They had employed an administrator to support them with the quality monitoring processes. These processes need time to embed in the service, to ensure the care people receive remains at a good standard.
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 18 May 2021) and there were multiple breaches 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 enough improvement had not been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations.
This service has been in Special Measures since 18 May 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 carried out an announced focused inspection of this service previously on 30 March and 7 April 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. This included safe care and treatment, governance, safe recruitment of staff and reliability and trustworthiness of the registered person (provider). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
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 were not looked at on this occasion however 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 The Angels on call on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service.
We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment related to safe medicines administration.
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 for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.