Updated 21 May 2025
We carried out this comprehensive assessment between 2 and 18 July 2025. London Care (Rochester) is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in the community in their own houses and flats. At the time of this inspection, they were providing personal care to 237 people and two of the people they supported had a learning disability. We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.
We announced the site visit to the provider 48 hours beforehand; this was because we needed to be sure there would be a manager available to support this inspection.
We spoke with 11 people who used the service, 10 relatives, 11 staff members, a manager, regional manager, care director and the head of quality assurance. We received feedback from 1 professional involved in the service. We reviewed 20 people’s care records, staff records and records relating to the management of the service.
The provider was previously in breach of the 3 legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, personal centred care and good governance. At this inspection, improvements had not been made, and the provider remained in breach of 3 regulations in relation to good governance, safe care and treatment and person-centred care. The provider continued to fail to have effective systems in place to identify, monitor and manage risks for people. Care plans failed to address people’s individual needs in relation to their physical health and emotional needs, and the provider failed to address shortfalls in the service promptly to ensure it was effective and safe.
Risks to people’s health and well-being were not thoroughly assessed and managed in a way that reduced the likelihood of harm to them. Care was not always planned and delivered in a person-centred manner.
The management team were not proactive in ensuring that shortfalls identified in the service were addressed and action plans implemented promptly.
Staff were deployed to meet people’s needs. People told us they received their scheduled care visits at the right time to meet their needs. There were no missed visits recorded. Recruitment checks were completed as required to keep people safe. The administration and management of people’s medicines was safe. Staff told us, and records showed that staff had completed training relevant to their roles and were supported to improve their performance. Complaints and concerns were investigated and managed in line with the provider’s procedure.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.