Mrs O's Caring Hands Homecare Limited

People were safeguarded against the risk of abuse. People told us they felt safe with the staff who supported them.

Recruitment had been affected by COVID-19 and the current cost of living crisis. The provider had reduced the areas they covered to ensure they had enough staff to cover people's needs. People and relatives told us that they usually saw the same team of staff who knew their needs.

People and relatives told us that staff wore PPE to help reduce the risk of infection.

There was a system in place to manage medicines. We identified several issues relating to the recording of medicines which the registered manager told us would be addressed. We have made a recommendation that the provider reviews best practice in relation to medicines management and reiterates this to staff to ensure this is followed.

The provider used an electronic rostering and monitoring system. There had been a cyber-attack in August which was not due to any fault of the provider; however, this had caused several missed calls. The provider had introduced temporary new management and recording systems until the IT system was fixed.

Audits were carried out to monitor the quality and safety of the service. The provider was strengthening their assessment and monitoring of medicines management. Whilst we understood the impact which the cyber- attack had upon the service; we did identify several shortfalls in relation to the maintenance of records relating to people who required specialist feeding techniques and the use of certain medical equipment. The registered manager told us this would be addressed immediately.

Most people and relatives thought the service was well managed. Comments from relatives included, "It is very well managed and well organised. They have been round to introduce themselves" and "They have done everything they need to do, when they need to do it. I would definitely recommend them." Some

people told us they felt that communication could be improved since they did not always know who was coming to support them. We passed this information to the registered manager who explained that the recent cyber-attack had impacted upon their recent communication and rostering abilities; however this had been addressed.