Archived: Research House

MNA Home Care Services provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was providing support for 505 people across the London Boroughs of Brent, Ealing and Harrow.

We previously inspected Research House on18 February 2014 and the provider had met all the regulations that were inspected.

At the time of the inspection there was a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People told us they felt safe when they received support and the provider had policies and procedures in place to deal with any concerns that were raised about the care provided.

The provider had processes in place for the recording and investigation of incidents and accidents. A range of risk assessments were in place in the support folders in relation to the care being provided.

The provider had an effective recruitment process in place. There was a policy and procedure in place for the administration of medicines.

The provider had policies, procedures and training in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and care workers were aware of the importance of supporting people to make choices.

Care workers had received training identified by the provider as mandatory to ensure they were providing appropriate and effective care for people using the service. Also care workers had regular supervision with their manager and received an annual appraisal.

People we spoke with felt the care workers were caring and treated them with dignity and respect while providing care. Care plans identified the person’s cultural and religious needs.

Detailed assessments of the person’s needs were carried out before the person started to receive care in their own home. Each person had a care plan in place which described their support needs. Care workers completed a record of the care and support provided during each visit.

The provider had a complaints process in place and people knew what to do if they wished to raise any concerns.

The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of the care provided and these provided appropriate information to identify issues with the quality of the service.

However, five people told us they had problems with the service they received. One person commented “the carer is good but they are often very late.” Another person said “we have not had a good experience. Even when we complained and were told things would be sorted out, the agency didn’t do what they said they would to improve things.”

We looked at the care plans for ten people using the service. We saw people’s care plans detailed their needs and the support their care workers should provide.

The provider had policies and procedures for safeguarding people using the service. Care workers understood the procedures and were trained to identify possible abuse.

We looked at the personnel files for 10 care workers and saw the provider carried out appropriate checks before care workers started to work with people using the service.

There were procedures in place for monitoring the standards of service provided.

We requested the provider send us a report detailing how improvements would be made. We were told by the provider and local authority prior to our visit that people's care needs had not always been met which placed people at risk of receiving care which was unsafe.

We found at our visit the service had learnt from the incidents that had occurred and had implemented systems to ensure people's care needs were updated ensuring they received care which was appropriate and safe.

We also found that the service was carrying our regular monthly audits in areas such as staff training, care planning, staff supervision they were also completing audits in relation to comments and complaints.