Archived: Prestige Nursing Ltd

Updated 7 January 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection visit took place on 28 November 2016 and was announced. The provider was given three days’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available at the office. We also needed to arrange to speak to people and their relatives as part of this inspection. The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

We checked the information we held about the service and the provider. This included notifications the provider had sent to us about significant events at the service and information we had received from the public. We also spoke with the local authority who confirmed they did not have a contract with this agency. The provider had completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took all of this information in to account when we made the judgements in this report.

We spoke with seven people who used the service and two people’s relatives by telephone. We spoke with three members of care staff, one care coordinator, and the regional manager. We did this to gain people's views about the care and to check that standards of care were being met.

We looked at the care records for two people. We checked that the care they received matched the information in their records. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service, including quality checks and staff files.

Updated 7 January 2017

We inspected this service on 28 November 2016. This inspection was announced. This meant the provider and staff knew we would be visiting the service’s office before we arrived. Our last inspection was carried out in August 2013 and at that time the provider was meeting the regulations we inspected. There were 59 people in receipt of personal care support at the time of this inspection visit.

There was no registered manager in post at the time of this inspection. 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 provider was in the process of advertising for a new manager and had implemented interim support arrangements.

People received their calls as agreed because there was enough staff available to them. However some people did not receive care from a consistent staff team which they told us they would prefer, to ensure the staff understood their routines and preferences. Some staff said they did not know enough about people’s needs before they visited them for the first time.

Staff understood what constituted abuse or poor practice and systems and processes were in place to protect people from the risk of harm. People were protected against the risk of abuse, as checks were made to confirm staff were of good character and suitable to work with them. Medicines were managed safely and people were supported to take their medicine when needed.

People were supported by staff that had received the training they needed to support them. Staff felt supported by the management team and received supervision to monitor their conduct and support their professional development. Staff knew about people’s individual capacity to make decisions and supported people to make their own decisions.

People’s needs were assessed and care plans where developed with people, which directed staff on how to support them in their preferred way. People were supported to maintain a diet that met their dietary requirements and preferences and were supported to access healthcare services.

People knew how to complain and we saw when complaints were made these were responded to in line with the policy. Staff felt listened to and supported. People knew who the manager was and felt the service was well managed. The provider sought the opinions from people who used the service to bring about changes.

Quality monitoring checks were completed by the provider and when needed action was taken to make improvements. The provider understood their responsibilities around their registration with us.