A Brighton care service has made changes for the better after a few tough years but still “requires improvement”, according to an official report.
MiHomecare Woodingdean, which supports 126 people in their own homes, was said by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to have improved compared with its two previous inspections.
The care service, which is part of national company MiHomecare, was found to be in breach of legal requirements during inspections last year and in 2015.
But when inspectors called again in March they found that improvements had been made.
The CQC said that during both of the earlier inspections the care service had inconsistent systems in place to care for patients. Late and missed calls were a particular problem.
The CQC said: “(When an) announced, comprehensive inspection took place on (Monday) 20 March 2017, it was evident that improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of the regulations.
“However, there were areas of practice in need of further improvement and those that had been implemented were required to be sustained and embedded in practice.”
The CQC rated MiHomecare Woodingdean as “requires improvement” for responsiveness and leadership.
However, the organisation was rated “good” for providing services that were safe, effective and caring.
The CQC said: “Quality assurance processes had improved and there was more oversight of the systems and processes to ensure that people were receiving a service they had a right to expect.”
The CQC noted that there were sufficient staff to provide care and that the staff had received the appropriate and necessary training. Staff also had access to ongoing training so that their knowledge would be up-to-date.
Steps were taken to protect people against cross infection and there were low accident rates, with the CQC report saying: “Those that had occurred had been recorded and were used to inform practice.”
The report also said: “Risk assessments had been undertaken and were regularly reviewed.
“They considered people’s physical and cognitive needs as well as hazards in the environment and provided guidance to staff in relation to how to support people safely.”
The nutrition and hygiene of those people being taken care of my MiHomecare in Woodingdean was well maintained and “there were detailed, comprehensive and person-centred care plans that documented people’s needs and abilities”.
The report added: “Regular reviews ensured that peoples’ care was current and appropriate for their needs”.
However, the report also noted that some of the patients’ preferences were disregarded.
The report said: “Improvements had been made since the previous inspection with regard to people being able to choose if they received care from a male or female member of staff.”
But preferences had not always been respected because of staff sickness and at times people had received care from a male member of staff rather than their preferred female member of staff.
The CQC added that, although “staff were positive about management”, quality assurance processes to monitor the quality of care and ensure improvement were not always completed in time.
