Platinum Care is a domiciliary care agency based in South Bury near Radcliffe town centre. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to people of adult age, and at the time of this inspection was primarily supporting older adults.

Not everyone using Platinum Care receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being 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. At the time of our inspection the service was support 39 people with a regulated activity.

This inspection was carried out over three days and included a visit to the office on the 13 June 2018, visiting two people who used the service on the 20 June 2018 and telephone interviews with two people using the service, email contact with a further person who uses the service, and telephone interviews with five members of staff on the 22 June 2018.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At the previous inspection the service had been rated good in the effective, caring, responsive and well led domains and rated as requires improvement in the safe domain. This was because we found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 (regulated activities) Regulations 2014. This related to how staff were recruited because we found a member of staff had begun working for the service prior to references being received.

Following the last inspection, the registered manager provided us with an action plan confirming the changes the service would make to ensure they complied with this regulation. At this inspection we found systems and policies were in place to support the safe recruitment of staff.

People were safeguarded from harm with procedures in place to report safeguarding concerns and staff receiving training to identify safeguarding concerns and how to respond.

People had individual risk assessments which considered their specific needs and what action to take to reduce the risk to their safety.

The service had a range of business continuity plans to ensure the service could continue to provide safe support for people in the event of an emergency.

The service was continually recruiting and we saw that there were sufficient staff to attend calls and meet people’s needs.

We saw that processes were in place to support people to take their medicines safely including staff training and competency checks.

There were infection control policies in place and staff received training in this area. Staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE), such as disposable gloves and aprons, to reduce the risk of cross infection when supporting people. People told us that staff always used PPE when supporting them with personal care.

Staff were provided with the training necessary to enable them to do their job effectively and received support and supervision to ensure that they could care and support people safely.

The registered manager and staff all had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act and the need for consent. Training was in place regarding the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLs).

Consideration was given to peoples’ nutrition and hydration risks within risk assessment records. Where the service supported people with food and fluids, we found that people were encouraged to eat well and that the food available to them was safe to consume.

We found that care plans considered people’s health care needs and how the service would support these. People told us tha

This was an announced inspection which took place on 11 and 12 January 2017. At the time of the inspection there were 70 people using the service. In accordance with our guidance, two working days prior to the inspection we contacted the provider and told them of our plans to carry out a comprehensive inspection of the service. This was to ensure the registered provider and the registered manager were available and able to provide the information we needed when we visited the agency’s office.

Platinum Care is an independent domiciliary care agency based in premises that are situated not too far from Bury and Radcliffe town centres. The agency provides help and support to adults in their own homes who may have a variety of needs. Services provided include assistance with personal care, the preparation of meals, planned outings and carer support.

Platinum Care has a registered manager who was present on the day of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The service was previously inspected in September 2015 when we found two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. During this inspection we found the previous breaches had been met.

During this inspection we found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This was because the recruitment system in place was not robust enough to protect people from being cared for by unsuitable staff. Although professional references had been requested for one care worker, they had not been received, yet the care worker had been employed by the provider. You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

People told us they felt safe with the staff that supported them and felt the staff had the right skills and experience to meet their needs.

We found sufficient suitably trained staff were employed to ensure people received the support they required. We saw that staff received the essential training and support necessary to enable them to do their job effectively and be able to care and support people safely.

We saw that suitable arrangements were in place to help safeguard people from abuse. Guidance and training was provided for staff on identifying and responding to the signs and allegations of abuse. Staff were able to demonstrate their understanding of the whistle-blowing procedures (the reporting of unsafe and/or poor practice).

All the care staff who dealt with people's medicines had received medicine management training and we found the system for managing medicines within people's homes was safe.

We saw that appropriate arrangements were in place to assess whether people were able to consent to their care. The registered manager demonstrated a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). The MCA provides legal safeguards for people who may be unable to make their own decisions. Records showed that most of the staff had undertaken training in relation to the MCA.

People's care records contained enough information to guide staff on the care and support required. The care records showed that risks to people's health and well-being had been identified, such as the risk of poor mobility and managing their own medicines. Risks were also assessed in relation to general safety issues within people's homes. We saw that plans were in place to help reduce or eliminate any identified risk. People were involved in regular reviews of their care to ensure the care and support provided met their needs, preferences and wishes.

Arrangements were in place to help ensure the prevention and control of infection in pe

This was an announced inspection which took place on 30 September and 2 October 2015. This was the first inspection of the service. The service had previously operated under a different location name. At the time of this inspection there were 62 people using the service. Two working days prior to the inspection we contacted the provider and told them of our plans to carry out a comprehensive inspection of the service. This was to ensure the registered provider and the manager were available and able to provide the information we needed when we visited the agency’s office.

Platinum Care is an independent domiciliary care agency based in premises that are situated not too far from Bury and Radcliffe town centres. The agency provides help and support to adults in their own homes who may have a variety of needs. Services provided include assistance with personal care, the preparation of meals, planned outings and carer support.

Platinum Care does not have a manager who is registered with the Care Quality Commission. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. We saw evidence to show that the manager of Platinum Care was applying to be registered with the Care Quality Commission.

We found a number of breaches in the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulation 2014 and a breach of Regulation 18 (1) (2) (e) of the Care Quality Commission. (Registration) Regulations 2009.

These related to the following; We found that medicines were not managed safely and there was insufficient information in a care record to guide staff on how to care for a person safely. Although guidance and training was provided for staff on identifying and responding to the signs and allegations of abuse, we found that the registered person had failed to recognise that an incident that had occurred was a safeguarding incident. They had subsequently failed to report that incident and other alleged safeguarding incidents to the Care Quality Commission as required by law.

You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

People told us they felt safe with the staff that supported them and felt the staff had the right skills and experience to meet their needs. They also spoke positively about the kindness and caring attitude of the staff.

Staff we spoke with had a good understanding of the care and support that people required. Staff were also aware of their responsibility to ensure information about people who used the service was treated confidentially.

We found sufficient suitably trained staff, who had been safely recruited, were employed to ensure people received the support they required. We saw that staff received the essential training and support necessary to enable them to do their job effectively and be able to care and support people safely.

We saw that all the staff had undertaken training in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). This training should help staff understand that assessments need to be undertaken to determine if people have capacity to make informed decisions about their care, support and treatment. The MCA provides legal safeguards for people who may be unable to make their own decisions.

We saw that assessments were undertaken around risks associated with fire safety and the general environment within people’s homes. Risk assessments were also in place in relation to assessing whether people had problems with certain aspects of their health. We saw that plans were in place to help reduce or eliminate any identified risk.

To help ensure that people received safe, effective care and support, systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service provided.