Age UK Maidstone's domiciliary bathing and foot care service was rated Requires Improvement overall, with safe and well-led domains failing due to incomplete recruitment identity checks, an unregistered manager, and inconsistent care reviews for bathing service users. Caring, effective, and responsive domains were rated Good, reflecting a kind, trained workforce with sound safeguarding and consent practices.
Concerns (5)
moderate
Record keeping
: “None of the three files we checked contained copies of any documents which confirmed staff identity. For example driving licence or passport.”
moderateGovernance: “The manager of the service was not registered with the Care Quality Commission.”
moderateCare planning: “Six out of the seven files we viewed had not had their needs reviewed in line with the policy. Five of the files we viewed had not been reviewed since October 2015.”
minorPerson-centred care: “The views of people receiving either service were not actively sought to drive improvement and improve the quality of the service.”
minorOther: “A fire risk assessment was in place... However, this was due to be reviewed in January 2015 but had not been at the time of our inspection.”
Strengths
· People felt safe with staff and were protected from risk of harm through appropriate risk assessments
· Staff were trained, supervised, and received annual appraisals supporting their development
· Staff were kind, caring and compassionate, respecting people's privacy and dignity at all times
· Effective infection control procedures including a newly purchased sterilising machine
· Robust safeguarding policy with dedicated safeguarding lead and staff confident to raise concerns
Quality-Statement breakdown (14)
safe: Recruitment proceduresRequires improvement
safe: SafeguardingGood
safe: Risk managementGood
safe: Infection controlGood
effective: Staff training and supportGood
effective: Mental Capacity Act complianceGood
caring: Kindness and compassionGood
caring: Privacy and dignityGood
responsive: Care planning and assessmentGood
responsive: Care review — bathing serviceRequires improvement
responsive: Complaints handlingGood
well-led: Registered manager in postRequires improvement
well-led: Seeking and acting on people's viewsRequires improvement
Age UK Maidstone was rated Good across all five key questions at this July 2017 inspection, demonstrating safe recruitment, person-centred care, and responsive leadership that had addressed all recommendations from the previous 'Requires improvement' inspection. The only minor gap identified was inconsistent staff knowledge of Mental Capacity Act principles, which the registered manager promptly remedied with refresher training.
Concerns (1)
minorConsent / capacity: “knowledge varied with some staff not understanding the principles of the Act itself...the registered manager arranged for the bathing service team to complete refresher training in the MCA”
Strengths
· People consistently felt safe with staff and expressed high satisfaction with both the bathing and foot care services
· Recruitment practices were safe with thorough personnel checklists including DBS checks and reference verification
· Robust infection control procedures for the foot care service including sterilising equipment individually wrapped per person
· Staff received regular supervision, annual appraisals, and weekly team meetings with the registered manager
· Care plans were person-centred and developed collaboratively with people, reviewed on a six-monthly basis