Maidstone Home Care Limited

Care plans did not always contain detailed information about people's health conditions and this increased the potential risk of harm. Where risks had been identified, these had not always been considered within care or risk planning processes. We did not find evidence that people had experienced harm. Incidents had not always been managed in accordance with safeguarding practice and CQC had not always been notified of concerns. Following the inspection, the provider notified CQC retrospectively of concerns.

People and relatives spoke highly of the support managers and staff provided. One person said, "They are excellent, marvellous, they can't do enough for you". A relative told us how the registered manager had contacted them to discuss providing additional support to manage a health concern. They said, "[The registered manager] rang to say [person] was confused due to an infection and suggested they do an extra call at lunch time to make sure [person] takes their antibiotics until [they] get better".

Staff were consistently positive about the registered manager and how they received support through working alongside managers, telephone calls and messages. Staff did not always receive sufficient training and supervision was generally informal. Following our inspection, the provider told us they had implemented a new training programme to ensure staff received sufficient training.

Systems and processes did not effectively identify or manage concerns found with care planning, safeguarding or staff training and this is an area in need of improvement. The service did not always have robust arrangements for managing confidential information to ensure it was secure and shared appropriately in line with data security standards. Following the inspection, the provider responded promptly to review their systems to ensure they were able to demonstrate improvements were being made. People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the registered manager.