The inspection of Owen Care and Support took place on 19 July 2016 and was announced. We previously inspected the service on 23 September 2013. The service was not in breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 regulations at that time.Owen Care and Support is registered to provide personal care. Care and support is provided to people who live in their own homes within Huddersfield. On the day of our inspection 11 people were receiving support with personal care.
The registered provider is also the registered manager for the service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
The management of people’s medicines was not always safe. Although staff received medicines training a thorough and recorded assessment of their competency was not completed. Peoples medicine administration record (MAR) did not record adequate detail to enable us to clearly evidence people had received their medicines as prescribed. Hand written entries on two of the MAR sheets we looked at did not detail the information staff required to ensure these medicines were administered safely. These examples demonstrate a breach of Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
People told us they felt safe. Staff received safeguarding training and were able to tell us what action they would take to protect people from the risk of harm.
There were risk assessments in peoples care plans.
The registered person had a procedure in place to reduce the risk of employing staff who may be unsuitable to work with vulnerable people; however, a written record of the interview process was not made.
New staff were supported in their role, completing a period of shadowing more experienced staff. Staff completed training in a variety of topics, relevant to their role. While staff received supervision, this was not always completed at regular intervals; however, all staff told us they felt supported by the registered person.
The registered person told us people supported by Owen Care and Support had capacity to make their own decisions about the care and support they received, however, staff had received training in the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Care plans reflected the support people required with eating and drinking.
People we spoke with told us staff were caring and kind. New staff were introduced to people and people were supported by regular staff. Staff maintained people’s privacy, dignity and confidentiality.
An assessment of needs was completed prior to the registered person providing care and support to any new service user. Care plans were reviewed and updated as people’s needs changed.
People told us they were satisfied with the service but they were aware of how to complain should the need arise.
Everyone we spoke with gave positive feedback about the service. Staff were proud of the organisation they worked for and the service they provided.
There were systems in place to monitor the performance of staff and to gain the views of the people who used the service. We have made a recommendation about developing effective auditing systems.
You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.