AOK Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides support to people of all ages and different abilities. At the time of this assessment, they supported 6 people who received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspect the service received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. We conducted this assessment to follow up on concerns we identified at the last inspection. These included breaches of Regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance. The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 21 May 2022). At this assessment we found improvements had been made to risk assessments. The provider advised that they did not provide medicines support. We found that there was a still a lack of effective audit systems in place to help identify shortfalls. Sufficient improvements had not been made in this area and the service remained in breach of regulation in relation to good governance. We also found that recruitment practices were not always robust, and it was not always evident that staff were recruited safely. We found a breach of regulation in respect of this. The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement. Assessment activity started on 6 February 2025 and ended on 25 February 2025. There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service operates. We assessed quality statements from the safe, caring and well-led key questions.
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First inspection of this small Somali-speaking domiciliary care agency identified breaches of Regulations 12 and 17 relating to risk assessment detail, medicines support guidance/competency, and ineffective quality assurance systems. Effective, caring and responsive domains were rated Good, with strong cultural matching and positive feedback from people and relatives.
Concerns (6)
criticalMedication management — “The service failed to provide comprehensive medicines assessments and guidance for staff in how to support people safely when being prompted to take their medicines.”
criticalCare planning — “We found that risk assessments in relation to people having specific health conditions such as epilepsy did not provide information of how to safely respond to these and support people who experience an epileptic seizure”
criticalGovernance — “Failure to establish and operate systems and processes effectively placed people at risk of harm and in receipt of poor-quality care.”
moderateStaff competency — “Care workers had received training around the administration of medicines. However, their competency had not been assessed which put people at unnecessary risk when being supported with their medicines.”
moderateRecord keeping — “some of the care plans lacked detail in regard to people's health and social care needs.”
moderateLeadership — “the registered manager had not identified some of the shortfalls in the systems and processes identified at the inspection.”
Strengths
· People protected from risk of abuse with robust safeguarding procedure in place
· Sufficient staff deployed to meet people's needs and safe recruitment checks carried out
· Safe infection prevention and control practices with appropriate PPE supplied
· Care workers culturally and linguistically matched (Somali speaking) to people they support
· Staff completed Care Certificate induction and shadowing of experienced workers
Quality-Statement breakdown (22)
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementRequires improvement
safe: Using medicines safelyRequires improvement
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseGood
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionGood
safe: Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the lawGood
effective: Staff support: induction, training, skills and experienceGood
effective: Supporting people to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced dietGood
effective: Supporting people to live healthier lives, access healthcare services and supportGood
effective: Ensuring consent to care and treatment in line with law and guidanceGood
caring: Ensuring people are well treated and supported; respecting equality and diversityGood
caring: Supporting people to express their views and be involved in making decisions about their careGood
caring: Respecting and promoting people's privacy, dignity and independenceGood
responsive: Planning personalised care to ensure people have choice and control and to meet their needs and preferencesGood
responsive: Meeting people's communication needsGood
responsive: Improving care quality in response to complaints or concernsGood
well-led: Managers and staff being clear about their roles, and understanding quality performance, risks and regulatory requirementsRequires improvement
well-led: Promoting a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive and empoweringRequires improvement
well-led: How the provider understands and acts on the duty of candourGood
well-led: Engaging and involving people using the service, the public and staffRequires improvement
well-led: Continuous learning and improving care; Working in partnership with othersGood