The Care Quality Commission
  • Services in your home
  • Homecare service

Archived: London East

TLC Care Services, 3rd Floor, 77 East Road, London, N1 6AH (020) 7017 2835

Provided and run by:
Triangle Community Services Limited

Important: This service is now registered at a different address - see new profile

All Inspections

10 June 2014

During a routine inspection

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on our observations during the inspection, speaking with people using the service, their relatives, the staff supporting them and from looking at records. We looked at five questions; Is the service caring? Is the service responsive? Is the service safe? Is the service effective? Is the service well led? If you want to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

Staff worked with health and social care professionals to improve the way they safeguard people from the risk of abuse.

CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and report on what we find. We found that the service was compliant in seeking consent from people who used the service and no one was being deprived of their liberty.

Is the service effective?

The provider had taken action to improve people's care plans, providing more detail and personalisation to show how to meet people's needs. Some of the individual plans still needed more development. People's needs were assessed prior to them receiving care. The majority of people said they were happy with the service, had regular care workers who were reliable and met their own or their relative's needs.

Is the service caring?

The majority of people and their relatives who used the service spoke in complimentary terms about the staff and the support they received. The provider took into account people's diverse needs and wishes in providing them with care.

Is the service responsive?

Staff updated people's plans following their reviews or any changes and took appropriate action to ensure people received the care they needed. The provider took into account people's comments to improve their service.

Is the service well led?

The provider had systems in place to manage and monitor the quality and effectiveness of the service. Staff training was overdue however a new programme of training was being implemented. The provider took action to keep people's records confidential. Records were secure and confidentially stored. Incidents affecting the safety and welfare of people were reported to CQC, however the provider needed to ensure all incidents that required reporting were notified to CQC.

11 February 2014

During a routine inspection

We received feedback from 12 people, including six relatives of people who used the service. We also spoke with seven members of staff including three managers. The majority of people who used the service and their relatives told us they were happy with the service and how the staff related to them.

People told us they were treated with respect and dignity and involved in decisions about their care. We received comments including, 'they're good as gold' and, 'they're very helpful.' People told us staff were,'friendly and they had a laugh' and 'they're very good.'

Most people indicated that their care was effective in meeting their needs. However we also received some mixed feedback from family members who were less satisfied about the care and service their relatives received.

People's needs were assessed and care and support needs were planned. The provider took into account people's diversity in their service. However care plans were not all personalised to reflect how to meet people's individual needs and were not reviewed or updated when their needs changed. This meant that the provider was not always protecting people using the service from inappropriate or unsafe care.

The majority of people spoke about the skills of staff in positive terms. The provider had effective recruitment and selection processes in place. There were systems in place to seek people's views about the service and monitor how the service was being provided. People's records were accurate and appropriate records maintained. However people's confidentiality was not protected because records were not kept securely.

5 February 2013

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We haven't been able to speak to people using thenservice because we did this visit to check the documents and systems in the agency's office. We gathered evidence of people's experiences of the service by reviewing comment cards and the complaints log. We found that people were satisfied with the quality of care offered.

The provider has ensured that an effective system is now in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people receive.

16 October 2012

During an inspection looking at part of the service

As we carried out this inspection to follow up two compliance actions, we did not speak with any people who use the service on this occasion.

We found that the provider has introduced systems to monitor and ensure care workers do not miss any calls to people who use the service. The provider has also recruited more care staff, so that where needed care workers could work in pairs. This also allowed better timing of visits and provided more consistency where care workers would visit the same people.

We found that the provider had made limited progress in setting up effective systems to regularly assess and monitor the quality of the services and to monitor risks.

23, 24 May 2012

During a themed inspection looking at Domiciliary Care Services

We carried out a themed inspection looking at domiciliary care services. We spoke with senior staff and with nine care workers at the time of our visit to the office and during our visits to people's own homes. We visited three people in their own homes as part of this review and spoke with them and their relatives about their experiences of the support they have received. We also spoke with five people who received a service from this agency and 8 relatives of people who used the service over the telephone.

We asked people to tell us what it was like to receive services from this home care agency as part of a targeted inspection programme of domiciliary care agencies with particular regard to how people's dignity was upheld and how they can make choices about their care. The inspection team was led by a CQC inspector joined by an Expert by Experience, a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

We used postal surveys, telephone interviews and home visit to people who use the service and to their main carers, a relative or friends, to gain views about the service.

People who spoke with us felt that care workers treated them with dignity and respect. They also told us that care staff respected their decisions in relation to day-to-day tasks.

All people who spoke with us agreed that the care staff met their individual needs and that the care workers were friendly and that the agency was providing a good quality of care. People told us that there was a high level of stability and were regularly attended by care workers they knew. They also said that it was very rare that the agency sent them a care worker that they did not know.

One relative said: 'The care workers really look after mum well. They seem to like her and bother about her.' Another person commented that the care for her late spouse was: 'excellent; even better than excellent, brilliant'.

All the people we spoke with us were very appreciative of the good care they received and felt it was carried out professionally. One person said that: 'It had relieved my mind that they, the agency, had sent very caring people. I could go in the garden or to shop. I am grateful for the help and the way it was given'.

People who use the service and their relatives agreed that they had been involved in the setting up of the care and were consulted by the agency about how it should be provided.

All people who spoke with us told us that they felt safe when their care staff were around and that they were protected from abuse.

People who spoke with us felt that the care workers were well trained, although we received a couple of comments that some care workers would benefit from attending dementia training and also learning how to use sign language.