Principles Recruitment Care Agency Limited received a Good rating across all five key questions at its first CQC inspection, with people and relatives consistently praising the kindness, reliability and responsiveness of staff. Minor areas for improvement were identified around the timeliness of staff induction, consistency of recruitment record-keeping, and documentation of mental capacity consent, all of which the registered manager acknowledged and was actively addressing.
Concerns (3)
minorRecord keeping: “staff confirmed that they were asked about their employment history during their recruitment process, however the registered manager had not always recorded these discussions.”
minorStaff training: “The timeliness of their training and the implementation of the care certificate for new staff was being addressed by the registered manager.”
minorConsent / capacity: “The provider was working with an independent consultant to ensure there was recorded evidence that staff had obtained the lawful consent of people who may lack mental capacity.”
Strengths
· People and relatives spoke highly of staff, using words such as 'amazing', 'understanding' and 'lovely' to describe the care received.
· Safe medicines management procedures in place with regular auditing by managers to identify errors.
· Robust safeguarding knowledge among staff with clear whistleblowing procedures and safeguarding booklets issued to people.
· Person-centred care plans reflecting individual backgrounds, preferences, cultural and spiritual needs.
· Independent consultant employed to carry out quality checks, medicines audits and spot checks on staff practices.