30 October 2019
During a routine inspection
This service is a domiciliary care agency and is based in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. The service provides personal care to adults in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.
At the time of our inspection, the service provided personal care to two people.
People’s experience of using this service
Since our last inspection on 24 September 2018, improvements had been made on risk assessments, pre-employment checks, training and quality assurance processes. Care plans contained suitable and sufficient risk assessments to effectively manage risks and keep people safe. Pre-employment checks had been carried out to ensure staff were suitable to support people. Staff had been trained to perform their roles effectively. Audits were being carried out to ensure people always received safe, high quality care.
People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice. People's ability to communicate was recorded, however, information did not include how to communicate with people effectively based on their communication ability. We made a recommendation in this area.
People told us that they were safe when supported by staff. People told us staff were punctual and systems were in place to monitor time keeping. Systems were in place for infection control and to learn lessons following incidents.
People received care from staff who were kind and compassionate. Staff treated people with dignity and respected their privacy. Staff had developed positive relationships with the people they supported. They understood people’s needs, preferences, and what was important to them.
Care plans were person centred and included people’s support needs. Care plans had been reviewed regularly to ensure they were accurate. Complaints had been managed in a timely manner.
Systems were in place to obtain feedback from people and relatives. People and staff were positive about the management of the service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 2 November 2018). We identified four breach of Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 relating to risk assessments, pre-employment checks, staff training and good governance.
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection, we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the rating of the last inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.