Background to this inspection
Updated
28 April 2023
The inspection
We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.
Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.
Inspection team
1 inspector carried out the inspection.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing.
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.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that a member of staff would be available to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed the information we held about the service since the last inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
We used information gathered as part of a monitoring activity that took place on 8 February 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements.
During the inspection
Inspection activity started on 14 March and ended on 28 March 2023.
We looked at records of care and support for 2 people who used the service and records of recruitment, training, and supervision for 1 staff member. We looked at records relating to the management of the service such as policies and audits. We spoke with 1 family member and 1 person who used the service and two staff members.
This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.
Updated
28 April 2023
About the service
Nikee Healthcare Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were 2 people using the service. It provides a service to people living with dementia, with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, mental health condition, physical disability, sensory impairment, older people, people who misuse drugs and alcohol, people with an eating disorder, and younger adults.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance Care Quality Commission (CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support
People were happy with the care they received. The registered manager met with people and their relatives to review how care was received and made changes if required. Detailed assessments of a person's needs were completed before they started to receive care and support. Staff had the necessary training to carry out their roles. People’s care plans contained the necessary information to provide person centred care. People received care from regular staff which meant they knew people well and knew what was important to them.
Right Care
We made a recommendation to the provider to review their practice to ensure they were following national guidance for the safe administration of medicines. There were appropriate processes for the recruitment of care workers. The provider had effective processes in place to safeguard people from the risk of harm.
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.
Right Culture
The quality assurance and governance processes in place needed to be strengthened as they had not addressed issues, we found with the care people received. We made a recommendation to the provider to review their practice to ensure they are following national guidelines. Following our inspection feedback, the registered manager booked training to update their practice and procedures. People, relatives, and staff were positive about the registered Manager.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was inspected but we had insufficient evidence to rate (published 13 November 2018) Following the inspection, the service was dormant till November 2021.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Nikee Healthcare Services on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Recommendation
We made two recommendations to the provider to review their medicine practice and to ensure they were working within best practice guidelines for supporting people with a learning disability and autism.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.