Star Care UK Limited

Star Care UK Limited is a service providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service supports older people, most of whom required support to rehabilitate to live independently often after a stay in hospital. 190 people were in receipt of care at the time of the inspection.

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

Although people received medicines safely we made a recommendation regarding the way staff record medicines. The provider assessed risks to people, including those relating to medicines, and took action to reduce the risks. Staff followed best practice in relation to infection control. The provider checked staff were suitable to work with people during recruitment. There were enough staff to support people safely and people received care at the agreed times.

Staff received regular supervision to support them in their roles. Staff received an induction and training to understand people’s needs and the provider was reviewing the training provided. People received the support they needed to maintain their day to day health and in relation to eating and drinking. 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.

People described staff positively, as kind, caring and professional. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and encouraged them to maintain their independence. People were involved in their care and also in developing their care plans. People’s care was personalised to meet their needs and preferences. People’s communication needs were met. The provider responded to complaints appropriately.

Two experienced registered managers were in post who were also directors of the company. People, relatives and staff told us the service was well-led and they were suitably engaged with. The provider oversaw the service with a system of checks and audits to ensure high standards were maintained. The provider followed their action plan to improve the service since our last inspection.

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 requires improvement (report published July 2018).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

Star Care UK Limited provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to adults including people with physical disabilities and dementia care needs. The service mainly provides personal care for people during scheduled visits at key times of the day as well as supporting people with their medicines and meals. At the time of our inspection 79 people were receiving a personal care service.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

Registered providers must notify the CQC about certain changes, events and incidents that affect their service or the people who use it. The provider did not notify CQC of notifiable events such as allegations of abuse. This meant the provider did not enable the CQC to have full oversight of the risks associated with the service.

People were satisfied with the care they received, although some people told us that the service was not always reliable. Staff did not always arrive on time for their scheduled visits and on occasion had not turned up at all.

Staff knew the people they supported well. People who needed help taking their medicines were appropriately supported by staff. Staff had received training in how to recognise and report abuse. They knew how to report any concerns and were confident that any allegations made would be fully investigated to help ensure people were protected.

Staff treated people with respect and asked people how they wanted their care and support to be provided. People’s rights were protected by staff who understood the main principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). People were involved in their care planning and how their care was provided.

People’s care plans provided staff with direction and guidance about how to meet people’s individual needs. Care plans were regularly reviewed and any changes in people’s needs were communicated to staff. Assessments were carried out to identify any risks to the person using the service and to the staff supporting them. This included any environmental risks in people’s homes and any risks in relation to the care and support needs of the person.

Appropriate checks were carried out on staff before they began to work with people to ensure that only applicants suitable for the role were employed. Staff received relevant training and supervision. However staff supervision consistent was inconsistent.

There were systems in place to obtain people's views about the quality of care they received. However, they were inconsistent. People knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided and to seek people's views about the service. However these systems were not as effective as they needed to be.

We found breaches of the regulations in relation to the provider's failure to establish and operate effective systems to assess and monitor the quality of care people received and the provider's failure to notify the CQC of notifiable events. You can see what action we asked the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.