Archived: TLC Sheffield

TLC-Sheffield is a domiciliary care agency providing support for people in their own homes. Not everyone using 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. The service was supporting around 50 people at the time of the inspection.

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

Most people we spoke with were positive about their experience of receiving care, and told us care staff were friendly and respectful. However, we found some concerns relating to the governance of the service, and whether some aspects of the service were operated safely.

The registered manager carried out regular audits of the service, however, the audits failed to identify some shortfalls, such as inaccurate record keeping. Staff and people using the service told us they felt management and office support was not reliable. The provider had identified this and plans were underway to make significant changes in order to improve this. Where incidents had occurred, the provider had not always made the legally required notifications to CQC.

Improvements were required in the way medicines were managed; medication records were not accurate, and staff told us they regularly experienced problems with medication records. Where people received medication on an “as required” basis, often referred to as PRN, the guidance for staff was not sufficient. We have made a recommendation that the provider reviews its medication systems.

The provider took steps to involve people in their care, although not everyone we spoke with could recall this had happened. The registered manager said this may be due to the use of telephone meetings to replace face to face meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Care took place in accordance with people’s consent, and where people lacked the capacity to consent to their care, appropriate alternative arrangements had been implemented.

People told us they felt safe when receiving care, and said they would feel confident to raise concerns. Some people told us they had asked not to have specific staff members to deliver their care, and the provider had facilitated this.

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 registered with us in November 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection in line with CQC’s inspection programme.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvement. Please see the well led section of this full report.

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

Follow up

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