Be Caring Manchester is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service was supporting 113 people at the time of the inspection. Date of assessment: 29 Jan to 20 March 2025. The assessment was triggered by intelligence we received about poor care. This was sent in anonymously and was not substantiated during the onsite visit. This service has been rated good. People and families we spoke with raised some concerns about staff training and receiving visits from unfamiliar staff at weekends. The provider responded proactively to resolve the concerns raised during the course of the assessment. Our review of induction and training processes did not find any concerns. People were safe and supported by staff who understood how to protect them from abuse and avoidable harm. Care plans had improved since the last inspection and now contained the right level of detail. Staffing levels were safe. Staff were recruited safely. The service had safe systems in place for the appropriate and safe handling of medicines. People and their families were consulted about the care provided and were supported to achieve outcomes to improve their health and wellbeing. The service worked well with other health and social care professionals and supported people to achieve good outcomes. There was good support in place for staff. We spoke to 19 staff. They told us they were valued and received the support they required. Staff supported people to understand their rights. Staff had received relevant training. There were a low level of complaints and people were able to contact the service to raise concerns if required. The provider had a very clear vision, strategy and culture. The management team were professional and passionate about providing high quality care and this was supported by the systems they had in place. Clear plans were in place to further develop the service with the aim of achieving an outstanding rating.
PDF cached but not yet analysed by Claude; set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and re-run npm run etl:reports -- --location 1-7766675081.
Be Caring Manchester improved its overall rating from Requires Improvement to Good following a focused inspection, with Effective and Well-led now rated Good. Safe remains Requires Improvement due to inconsistent detail in risk assessments and care planning guidance, though staffing, medicines management, safeguarding and governance were otherwise well managed.
Concerns (4)
moderateCare planning: “the amount of detail included in the guidance varied. For example, 1 moving and handling assessment gave detailed information...whilst another was very brief.”
moderateCare planning: “Where one person could become anxious and have behaviours that could be challenging, guidance was not always clear what the behaviour was and what staff should do.”
moderatePerson-centred care: “The management team were aware some support plans needed more person-centred detail. Work was ongoing to review and improve the level of detail in people's risk assessments.”
moderateGovernance: “At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. An experienced interim manager from the provider's head office had been in post for 3 months.”
Strengths
· There were enough staff to attend all calls and meet people's needs, with staff staying the full length of call times and most calls being on time.
· Staff were safely recruited with all pre-employment checks completed before starting work.
· People received their medicines as prescribed, supported by an electronic MAR system with alerts for missed administrations.
· Staff received good training including induction, shadow shifts, online and face-to-face courses, with an online system tracking refresher training.
· Regular supervision meetings ('Be Supportive') were held and staff felt well supported by the management team.
Quality-Statement breakdown (14)
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementRequires improvement
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuse; Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
safe: Using medicines safelyGood
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionGood
effective: Staff support: induction, training, skills and experienceGood
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the lawGood
effective: Supporting people to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced dietGood
effective: Staff working with other agencies to provide consistent, effective, timely care; Supporting people to live healthier livesGood
effective: Ensuring consent to care and treatment in line with law and guidanceGood
well-led: Managers and staff being clear about their roles, understanding quality performance, risks and regulatory requirements; Continuous learningGood
well-led: Promoting a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive and empoweringGood
well-led: How the provider understands and acts on the duty of candourGood
Be Caring Manchester improved from Inadequate and exited Special Measures, with significant gains in call monitoring, medicines, training, safeguarding and governance leading to Good ratings in caring and responsive. However, MCA assessments lacked detail, LPA verification was inconsistent, and improvements needed sustained embedding, keeping safe, effective and well-led at Requires Improvement.
Concerns (6)
moderateConsent / capacity: “the capacity assessments lacked sufficient detail in respect to the area that was being assessed”
moderateConsent / capacity: “When relatives held power of attorney for people there was not always evidence this had been verified, so we could not be sure they had the legal right to make decisions”
moderateGovernance: “the service was not yet able to demonstrate over a sustained period of time that management and leadership was consistent”
minorPerson-centred care: “Documents were not all available in formats suitable for people supported. For example; pictorial or easy read.”
minorStaffing levels: “a small number of people felt their preferences of gender specific staff was not always met”
minorMissed or late visits: “the service was heading in the right direction with improved call timings percentages, however the provider acknowledged there was still further work in this area”