Take 4 Care Ltd is a small domiciliary care agency rated Good overall following a focused inspection of Safe and Well-Led in October 2023, with the remaining three key questions carried forward as Good from the previous 2017 inspection. The service demonstrated safe, person-centred care, effective governance, and a committed registered manager with clear vision for quality improvement.
Strengths
· Positive feedback from people and relatives about care quality and staff friendliness
· Person-centred care plans and risk assessments with clear staff guidance
· Sufficient staffing levels with regular staff teams and advance rotas provided to people
· Safe recruitment practices including full work histories, references and DBS checks
· Staff trained in medicines administration with regular competency checks
Quality-Statement breakdown (10)
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseGood
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementGood
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
safe: Using medicines safelyGood
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionGood
safe: Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
well-led: Promoting a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive and empoweringGood
well-led: Managers and staff being clear about their roles, and understanding quality performance, risks and regulatory requirementsGood
well-led: Engaging and involving people using the service, the public and staffGood
well-led: Continuous learning and improving care; Working in partnership with othersGood
Take 4 Care Ltd was rated Good across all five key questions at its August 2017 inspection, with 32 people receiving personal care. Minor shortfalls in medication recording, risk assessment documentation and absence of formal MCA training and assessments were identified but promptly addressed by the registered manager.
Concerns (4)
moderateMedication management: “The medication administration record sheets (MARS) that had been returned to the office for safe storage showed some gaps in recording. The codes had not been used to show if or why people had not taken their medication”
moderateConsent / capacity: “None of the service's staff had received MCA training through Take 4 Care...There were no mental capacity assessments on any of the care files that we viewed”
moderateGovernance: “the issues found with the medication administration sheets (MARS) had not been identified in the quality assurance checks”
minorRecord keeping: “although people said that their risks were well-managed and care workers told us how they managed risks we found that their risk assessments did not always show how risks were to be managed”
Strengths
· People consistently felt safe with care workers and reported no missed visits
· Care workers were well-trained with regular updates, spot checks, supervisions and appraisals
· Care workers were described as kind, caring and compassionate, treating people with dignity and respect
· People and relatives were fully involved in assessment and care planning processes
· Complaints were dealt with appropriately and in a timely way