16 June 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Care 1st is a home care service providing personal care and support to people in their own home. 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. At the time of our inspection there were around 110 people being supported with personal care needs.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they were happy with the care they received. The provider and care manager oversaw a good quality service which was safe, and well led. Some people and relatives told us communication between them, and the office had been “poor” and “inconsistent “in the last few months. People said this had been frustrating. The provider had identified this shortfall in the way the service was managed. A day to day care manager had been recruited with a key remit to improve communication between the office and people and their relatives. Some people told us communication had improved significantly since the new care manager had been working at the service.
People were supported by enough staff to meet their needs. People told us they were supported by staff, who generally understood their needs well.
Staff received appropriate training and support to ensure people were safeguarded against the risks of abuse and avoidable harm. Risks associated with people's care were assessed and effectively minimised.
Overall, the service was well led. Shortfalls were identified and acted upon. The provider was open and transparent in their approach. There were also effective quality checking systems in place. These included an independent external quality assessor. This showed the provider was committed to ensuring there was an objective overview of the service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The service was rated Good (report published December 2019).
Why we inspected
We had received some allegations of concern around how the service was run. Specifically there had ben some concerns raised around medicines management, visit times and communication from the office.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns.
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.