Peterborough home care service requires improvement, according to Care Quality Commission

Haven Care Solutions in Peterborough has been rated as ‘Requires Improvement’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The service provides care to patients within their home but is based at Stuart House on St John’s Street in the city centre.

HCS was inspected at the end of March and the findings published this month. Despite being rated as ‘Good’ for the categories Effective, Caring and Responsive, it was rated as ‘Requires Improvement’ for Safe, Well-led and overall.

At the time of the inspection, there were five people using the service and it was its first inspection.

The report found:

SAFE

- Checks were undertaken on new staff but there were gaps in some staff recruitment records and checks.

- References were not verified. None of the references looked at had been verified to try to ensure authenticity.

- Copies of identification documents held, to prove the staff member was who they said they were, were not verified by the person undertaking the copy.

EFFECTIVE

- Staff delivered people's care in line with their agreed and individualised care and support preferences

- Staff respected people's independence to make their own health and social care appointments or to be supported by family or friends.

CARING

- Staff respected people's individual preferences and protected characteristics. People's cultural or religious needs or wishes were documented in people's care records to guide staff.

- The registered manager encouraged people and their relatives to be involved in their or their family members’ support and care decisions.

- Staff promoted and maintained people's privacy and dignity.

RESPONSIVE

- Staff understood people's individual needs and wishes on how they wanted to be supported.

- Staff took complaints about the service seriously and complaints and concerns raised were investigated, responded to, and resolved where possible. Actions were taken to try to reduce the risk of recurrence.

WELL-LED

- There were three occasions when safeguarding allegations had been made to the local authority safeguarding team, but the CQC had not been notified (there was no evidence of risk of harm to people).

- Staff recruitment records had not been audited to identify areas of improvement in the recruitment process and to make sure robust records were held.

The CQC will now request an action plan from the provider to ascertain what how it will improve its standards in the areas required and work alongside it and the local authority to monitor progress.

The full report can be viewed on the Care Quality Commission website.