Kinver Care Ltd

Updated 2 March 2023

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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 3 inspectors 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. The provider had notified us of a change of address and the application for this change is in process.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we wanted to ensure the registered manager was available on the day of inspection. We needed to obtain consent from people using the service to contact them.

Inspection activity started on Tuesday 10 January 2023 and ended on Monday 16 January 2023. We visited the location’s office on Wednesday 11 January and Monday 16 January 2023.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 4 people who used the service and 3 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 13 members of staff including the provider, the registered manager, the nominated individual, care coordinators and care staff.

The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 7 people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at 6 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 2 March 2023

About the service

Kinver Care is a domiciliary care agency who provided personal care to 83 people at the time of the inspection across Kinver and Walsall and supports children, younger adults and older people, some of whom may have a physical disability, a sensory impairment or dementia. Immediately after the inspection, the number of people being supported reduced to 64 as the provider no longer continued to support people in the Kinver area.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The management team had experienced significant challenges when scheduling people's care calls as there were not always enough staff available to consistently provide cover. There had been a sudden reduction in numbers of permanent staff in a short period of time, particularly in the Kinver and Wombourne areas which meant people were receiving support from a high number of agency staff. This had resulted in some missed and late calls.

Electronic care plans were in place, however some of the information about people’s needs were not detailed in full, or there were some discrepancies in the information recorded. This meant staff did not always have the required information to support people in the most effective way.

Mostly, medicines were managed safely however some medicines were not always recorded accurately in people’s care plans. Safeguarding concerns were raised by staff as they had received relevant training and actions had been taken to address the concerns raised. Most people told us they felt safe being supported by Kinver Care.

Mechanisms for auditing were in place, but they needed to be strengthened as they had not identified all of the issues we identified during the inspection.

The provider took action in response to our feedback about the issues we found and did take remedial actions to mitigate the risk of people being exposed to risk or 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.

Systems were in place to ensure good infection prevention and control practice. People received the opportunity to feedback about the care they received. Many members of staff spoke highly of the provider and registered manager and said they felt supported and had no concerns.

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 the service under the previous provider at the previous premises was good (published on 29 July 2021).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing and general concerns about the care people received. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. 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 changed from good to 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 Kinver Care Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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