Homecare1st received a 'Requires Improvement' rating following a focused inspection of the Safe and Well-Led key questions, with four regulatory breaches identified covering medicines management, risk assessment, staff recruitment, CQC notifications, and governance. Key strengths included effective safeguarding awareness, consistent PPE use, and good incident-learning processes.
Concerns (9)
criticalMedication management: “for one person, the evening medicine was due at nine pm however, there were 13 days when it was administered between half an hour and one and a half hours late.”
criticalStaff training: “one staff member started providing care to people on 10 July 2022, however, did not receive training until 20 and 21 July 2022.”
critical
Governance
: “The registered manager had not established or used an effective system to enable them to ensure compliance with their legal obligations and the regulations.”
criticalSafeguarding: “at least two occasions where a safeguarding concern had been raised however, the registered manager had not submitted a notification to CQC without delay.”
criticalRecord keeping: “The registered person had failed to ensure that information specified in Schedule 3 was available for each person employed.”
moderateMedication management: “competency checks in relation to medicines management...were undertaken by a staff member who had not received training to be a competent assessor.”
moderateCare planning: “People's care plans did not always include sufficient information and guidelines to help staff provide care in a safe and individualised way.”
moderateCare planning: “risk assessments in place, they were not specific to meet the needs of the person and some included information that was not relevant to the prescribed medicine.”
minorMissed or late visits: “We were told it would be 15-30 minutes leeway [on agreed times] but I often have to call to see where they are.”
Strengths
· All staff received safeguarding training and understood the process for raising concerns; people and relatives reported feeling safe.
· Staff consistently wore PPE during care visits; infection prevention and control policy was up to date.
· An on-call staff member was allocated each day to monitor all calls via the online system and ensure visits were not missed.
· Incidents and accidents were recorded and reviewed regularly to identify trends, with lessons shared through team meetings and supervisions.
· Staff were supported through supervision, appraisals and team meetings, with opportunities to raise concerns.