Golden Keys Care Agency Ltd

Updated 18 January 2024

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

This was a focused inspection and to check whether the provider had met the requirements of the Warning Notices in relation to Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) and Regulation 17 (Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 1 inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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, who is also the provider of the service.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 01 December and ended on 20 December 2023. We visited the location’s office on 11 December 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). 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 13 members of staff including the registered manager and care coordinator. This was by telephone or email correspondence. We reviewed a range of records which included 9 people's care records, associated risk assessments and a selection of Medicines Administration Records [MAR]. We looked at 5 staff files in relation to recruitment, training, and supervisions and 6 agency profiles to ensure appropriate checks and relevant training had been carried out. We looked at a sample of the service's quality assurance systems, accident/incident, and complaints management records. The Expert by Experience spoke with 11 people who used the service or their relatives about their experience of the care provided.

Following the inspection to the domiciliary care office, we continued to seek clarification from the registered manager and care coordinator to validate evidence found.

Updated 18 January 2024

About the service

Golden Keys Care Agency Ltd is a large domiciliary care agency providing the regulated activity of personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 95 people using the service.

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 had made improvements to their processes for monitoring and auditing the quality and safety of the service since the last inspection. However further improvements were required in relation to communication and gathering people’s feedback and using this information to improve the quality of the service being provided. Risks to people had been identified and assessed, however some risk assessments were not dated which made it difficult to ascertain when they had been completed or reviewed. We have made a recommendation around this.

People told us they had not had any missed calls, however on occasions the calls were not at their scheduled times. People and their relatives told us they felt safe using the service. People were cared for by staff who knew how to keep them safe and protect them from avoidable harm.

Effective arrangements were in place to ensure recruitment checks on staff were safe. Staff had received an induction and training to enable them to meet people’s needs. Supervisions, appraisals, and competency assessments for staff were carried out and staff told us they felt supported by the senior team.

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.

The provider was very receptive to the feedback provided and was fully aware of the required improvements they needed to make to improve the quality of the service.

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 13 April 2023) and there were breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found sufficient improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check whether the Warning Notices we previously served in relation to Regulations 12 and 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met about providing safe care and treatment and monitoring the quality of the service and to see if 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. 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 remained 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 Golden Keys Care Agency Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation about the completion of risk assessments.

Please see the action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.