• Services in your home
  • Homecare service

Excelcare (Home Care) Limited Tower Hamlets Office

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

33 Narrow street, Limehouse, London, E14 8DP (020) 7780 9484

Provided and run by:
Excelcare (Home Care Division) Limited

Latest inspection summary

On this page

Background to this inspection

Updated 10 November 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection took place on 5, 6 and 7 September 2017 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our inspection as we needed to be sure that the people we needed to speak with would be available.

The inspection team consisted of three inspectors and three experts by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service. The experts by experience had experience in the care and support of older people who use regulated services, including people living with dementia.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information the Care Quality Commission (CQC) held about the service. This included notifications of significant incidents reported to the CQC and the report for the last inspection that took place on the 5 August 2014, which showed the service was rated as ‘Good’. We contacted the local authority for the borough they were registered in and used their comments to support our planning of the inspection. The provider also submitted a provider information return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give us some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection we spoke with 34 people using the service, 14 relatives and 19 staff members. This included the registered manager, four care coordinators, two community care coordinators and 12 care workers. We looked at 14 people’s care plans, 12 staff recruitment files, staff training files, staff supervision records and audits and records related to the management of the service.

Following the inspection we spoke with three health and social care professionals who had worked with people using the service for their views.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 10 November 2017

This inspection took place on 5, 6 and 7 September 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that the people we needed to speak with would be available. We told the registered manager we would be returning over the next two days. At the last comprehensive inspection in August 2014, with the inspection report being published in January 2015, the service was rated as ‘Good’.

Excelcare (Home Care) Limited Tower Hamlets Office is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of our visit the service was supporting 335 people, but only providing personal care to 255 people in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. This also included a children’s contract in the London Borough of Lewisham, where they supported 35 children, with four that received personal care.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

The service promoted an open and honest culture and staff spoke highly of the atmosphere at the service and the support they received from management. Staff were confident they could raise issues or concerns at any time, knowing they would be listened to and acted upon.

The registered manager was aware of the challenges they faced and was proactive in looking for ways to deal with them. There were effective quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided and understand the experiences of people who used the service. The registered manager was fully aware of their registration requirements regarding notifiable incidents and learning from incidents was shared across the whole service.

People who required support with their medicines received them safely and all staff had completed training in the safe administration of medicines, which was refreshed annually. The registered manager had been proactive in following up concerns that had been raised within the borough and discussions were in process about improving practice.

People using the service and their relatives told us they felt safe using the service and staff had a good understanding of how to identify and report any concerns. Staff were confident that any concerns would be investigated and dealt with and the provider ensured people understood how they would protect them from avoidable harm.

Risks to people were identified during an initial assessment. Guidance was in place to enable staff to support people safely and records were updated when people’s needs changed.

The provider had a robust staff recruitment process and staff underwent the necessary checks to ensure they were suitable to work with people using the service. People had regular care workers to ensure they received consistent levels of care.

Care workers received an induction training programme to support them in meeting people’s needs effectively and shadowed more experienced staff before they started to deliver personal care independently. Staff received regular supervision and told us they felt supported and were happy with the supervision they received.

Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). The provider was aware of what to do and who to contact if they had concerns that people lacked capacity to make certain decisions. Care workers respected people’s decisions and gained people’s consent before they carried out care tasks.

People’s nutritional needs and preferences were recorded in their care plans and staff were aware of the level of support required. Care workers told us they notified the office if they had any concerns about people’s health and we saw evidence of this in people’s care records. We also saw people were supported to maintain their health and well-being through access to health and social care professionals, such as GPs, occupational therapists and district nurses.

Staff treated people in a way that respected their privacy and dignity and promoted their independence. There was evidence that language and cultural requirements were considered when allocating care workers to people using the service.

People and their relatives told us care workers were kind and compassionate and knew how to provide the care and support they required. Regular care workers knew the people they supported and showed concerns for people’s health and welfare.

People were involved in planning how they were cared for and supported. An initial assessment was completed from which care plans and risk assessments were developed. Care was personalised to meet people’s individual needs and preferences and was reviewed if there were any significant changes.

People using the service and their relatives knew how to make a complaint and were able to share their views and opinions about the service they received. There were monitoring systems in place to allow people using the service and their relatives the opportunity to feedback about the care and treatment they received. Extra surveys had been carried out when the number of people using the service increased during a local authority restructure in April 2017.