Archived: Custom Care (Harborne)

Updated 24 June 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

We undertook an unannounced focused inspection of Custom care on 17May 2017. The team inspected the service against one of the five questions we ask about services: is the service well led?

We had received some concerns about the provider not supporting people when required with their health care needs, and not contacting people’s relatives or external agencies when peoples care needs changed. We were also told that people were receiving their calls late which meant people were without their calls at the agreed time.

This inspection was unannounced and carried out by one inspector.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. This included information that we had received via our website and complaints about a service. We were also notified that the local authority had lifted a suspension that was imposed in October 2016 because improvements had been made in the delivery of the service.

During our inspection we spoke with seven staff and eight people who used the service. We looked at staff rotas, records of staff meetings, complaints, staff training, staff allocation and the concerns that had been raised about the provider.

Updated 24 June 2017

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 19 January 2016. After that inspection we received concerns in relation to concerns were that there was a lack of support for people when they required help with their health care needs, and not contacting people’s relatives or external agencies when people’s care needs changed. We were also told that people were receiving their calls late which meant people were without their calls at the agreed time. As a result we undertook a focused inspection to look into those concerns.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Custom Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk’

Custom Care is registered to provide a personal care service to adults in their own homes. On the day of the inspection we were told the registered manager had left the organisation. We were assisted by the acting manager who has submitted an application with us to become the registered manager.

A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act (2008) and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Information contained in care records was not always updated to reflect people’s changing needs so staff had the information required to support people. People did not always receive their calls as agreed.

The provider had established adequate quality monitor processes to identify if the service was meeting people’s needs or how it could be improved. However audits had not always led to improvements in the quality of the service.

Staff gave a positive view of the changes being made and felt supported. The provider acknowledged improvements were still required and an action plan was in place to work towards which was monitored and reviewed. This showed that some improvement had been made.

People were supported with their healthcare needs and appropriate referrals were made when required.