The Robert Atkinson Centre

The Robert Atkinson Centre is a domiciliary care agency providing support for people in their own homes. The service was supporting 5 people at the time of the inspection.

People's experience of using this service and what we found

The provider did not ensure staff were recruited safely. Appropriate checks were not completed prior to staff supporting people. This placed people at risk of harm.

The provider did not have effective systems to monitor the safety and quality of the service.

People were happy with the care and support provided. The registered manager ensured people had a regular team of staff. Staff were introduced to people prior to providing support. People told us they looked forward to staff visiting. People and families were involved in assessments.

The provider had systems in place to investigate safeguarding concerns. Staff had completed safeguarding training. Individual and environmental risks were identified and mitigated against. Systems were in place to ensure people would continue to receive support in the event of an emergency.

The registered manager conducted regular visits to gather feedback. The service liaised with healthcare professionals and their information was included in care plans.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 5 January 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the recruitment and management of staff. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Due to the shortfalls found during the inspection the provider was requested to produce an action plan detailing what action and by when that they would address the issues identified.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to safe recruitment and monitoring the safety and quality of the service.

Follow up

We have already requested an action plan from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

This was the first time the service had been inspected.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. It provides a service to a wide range of individuals including older people and younger adults. At the time of our inspection nine people were using the service.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.’

People were cared for safely by staff who understood safeguarding procedures and knew how to raise any concerns. Individual risks were assessed and plans put in place to minimise them. Accidents and incidents were recorded and monitored to reduce future risk.

The service had only just taken on a package that included the administration of medicine. Procedures and paperwork was in place ready to support the person with their medicines. Staff had been trained in the safe administration of medicines and knew how to ensure they were stored safely.

Staff had access to a wide range of training to ensure they had the necessary skills and knowledge to support people effectively. Specialist training was available to help staff meet the specific needs of the people they supported. People were supported to access healthcare and encouraged to have a healthy diet appropriate to their needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff were passionate about their work and promoted dignity and independence. People who used the service and their relatives were all very happy with the support they received and told us staff were friendly.

Support plans contained very detailed information about people, their likes and dislikes and how best to meet their needs. People were engaged in a variety of activities and supported to access the community they lived in. There was a procedure in place to deal with complaints although none had been received at the time of our inspection.

The service was led by a management team who supported staff well. Feedback was sought from people using the service and staff. A comprehensive system of audits was in place to monitor the quality of the service.