27 May 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Meridian Health and Social Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults living in their own homes and flats. At the time of inspection, the service was supporting 75 people.
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
Processes were in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service. However quality assurance checks had not highlighted the issues found during this inspection regarding medicines records, recruitment checks and reporting of some incidents to CQC.
People told us they felt safe with the care they received from staff. Effective risk assessments and systems were in place to keep people safe from abuse or avoidable harm. The management team and staff understood their roles and responsibilities for raising and sharing any concerns with professionals. We found two concerns had not been notified to CQC as the management team were unclear about some notifiable incidents. We have made a recommendation about this.
People’s health needs were assessed before starting with the service. People received care from staff who knew them well and who were trained to support people safely. Infection control processes were in place and staff had access to adequate supplies of PPE.
People told us they received their medicines as prescribed. Some people’s medicines records had not been completed correctly in line with national guidance and the provider’s medication policy. The provider’s quality monitoring processes had not identified these. We have made a recommendation about this.
Recruitment processes were in place to ensure only appropriate staff were employed to work with vulnerable people. Some gaps were found in people’s employment history records which had not been found, either during the recruitment process or the provider’s quality monitoring processes. We have made a recommendation about this.
We received mixed views from people and staff regarding whether there were enough staff employed to support people. The provider has an ongoing recruitment process in place.
People were supported by staff to eat and drink enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Where necessary, staff referred people to their GP and other medical professionals to make sure people were supported to remain well.
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. People and their families told us they were involved in the decisions made about the care they received.
Staff supported people in a friendly and respectful way. People and their relatives were complimentary about the staff and their caring attitude. People were encouraged to be as independent as possible. People received care which was centred around not only their needs, but also their wishes and choices. Care plans were reviewed regularly or as people’s needs changed.
People knew how to make a complaint, although no formal complaints had been made to the service. There was an effective complaints process in place to deal with any complaints that might be raised in the future. The management team worked in partnership with people, their families and other people involved in their care, for example other health professionals.
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 has changed provider. This service was registered with us on 12 October 2020 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection to assess the standard of care delivered by the service and award a rating.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.