J & M Healthcare

Updated 6 November 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses, flats and specialist housing. This service is also registered to provide care and support to people living in a supported living setting, so that they can live as independently as possible. At the time of this inspection no one living in the supported living setting required personal care support. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 24 September 2021 and ended on 26 October 2021 when we visited the office location.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from professionals who work with the service such as the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff including the two directors one of whom is also the registered manager, and two support workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and medication records. We looked at one staff file 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 6 November 2021

About the service

J&M Healthcare is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care and support to people within their own homes in the community or within a supported living setting. At the time of the inspection J&M Healthcare was providing personal care and support to three adults living in their own homes only.

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

Staff knew the people they supported well. There were enough suitably trained and knowledgeable staff to help support people’s care and support needs. People and their relatives told us that staff were punctual to their care call visits and had attended all arranged calls.

Staff had medicines administration spot checks undertaken to review their competencies following their training. Staff did not always follow their training and the medicines policy and procedure to ensure they didn’t put themselves and people at an increased risk of medication errors. The registered manager was aware of the concern and was working to make the necessary improvement.

Staff were encouraged to discuss their performance through supervision. New staff to the service had to complete an induction and potential new staff to the service had checks carried out on them. This helped make sure they were suitable to work with the people they supported.

People and their relatives told us the support from staff made them, or their family member, feel reassured. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of how to keep people safe from harm or abuse. They also knew that they should report any concerns they may have to their registered manager or to external organisations such as the local authority.

Staff had access to an end of life policy and procedure to guide them when supporting a person at the end of their life. This would help the person have as dignified death as possible. Staff had access to information in peoples’ support plans and risk assessments that helped guide them to care and support people safely and effectively. Infection control practices were in place to reduce the risk of cross contamination. Lessons were learnt and shared with staff when things went wrong or there was a risk of this.

Most people did not require the support of staff with their food and drink. Staff helped promote people’s privacy and dignity. Staff also encouraged people and their relatives to be involved in discussions around their care and support needs. People felt listened to and their choices respected.

The registered manager and staff, when required, would work with external health and social care professionals. This would help people to receive joined up care and support. Complaints about the service had not been received but people and their relatives felt confident to raise concerns and feel listened to. People, and their relatives were asked to complete surveys to feedback on the service provided. Staff could enable people to have information in different formats such as large print or pictorial formats to help them access information.

The registered manager sent staff any guidance and legislation updates. This helped support the staff team to work with the most up to date guidance. Staff meetings were held to update staff on people’s care needs and provide updates on guidance and the organisation. Audits were undertaken to monitor the quality of the service provided.

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.

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 on 20 July 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This is the first inspection since the service registered with the CQC on 20 July 2020.

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.