Archived: Wimbledon Beaumont DCA

Wimbledon Beaumont DCA is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to up to 15 people living in supported living apartments. The apartments are based within the grounds of Wimbledon Beaumont, a nursing home run by the same provider. At the time of our inspection there were 10 older people using the service.

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.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People continued to receive care that was safe. People were protected against the risk of harm. Risk management plans were robust and enabled people to take risks safely. Staff received safeguarding training and knew how to report and escalate suspected abuse. People’s medicines were managed safely. People continued to receive support from suitable numbers of staff who were robustly vetted.

People received support from staff that were knowledgeable and reflected on their working practices to drive improvement. People were supported to monitor and maintain their health and wellbeing and had access to healthcare services as and when required. People’s nutritional needs and preferences were catered for.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were treated with kindness and compassion. People were supported to maintain their independence whenever safe to do so. Staff were aware of people’s diverse needs and treated them equally.

People’s communication needs and preferences were recorded. People continued to receive a personalised service and care plans were regularly reviewed to reflect their changing needs. People knew how to raise concerns and were confident these would be acted upon in a timely manner.

People and staff spoke highly of the registered manager and told us the service was well-led. The registered manager had oversight of the service to drive improvements. People benefitted from a service that worked in partnership with other organisations and strove for continual improvement. People’s views were regularly sought and action taken when issues identified.

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 good (published 26 July 2017).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Wimbledon Beaumont DCA provides home care to people living in assisted living apartments. The apartments are based within the grounds of Wimbledon Beaumont, a nursing home run by the same provider. People living in the assisted living apartments live independently but can choose to purchase a care package from the provider, to assist them with their personal care and support if this is needed. This could range from one visit in the morning to a number of calls during the day. People who used this service had a range needs. At the time of the inspection, four people were using the service to provide them with personal care.

The service had a registered manager in post. 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At this inspection we found the service continued to be Good.

People were supported by staff who received training in safeguarding people from abuse. The provider had robust procedures to recruit only staff who were suitable to work with people, although there had been no new staff recruited since our last inspection. Staff managed people’s medicines safely. The provider managed risks to people well.

Staff received training, supervision and annual appraisal to support them to understand and meet people’s needs. Staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to help ensure people’s rights were protected. People received food and drink according to their preferences and dietary requirements.

People were supported by staff who were kind and caring and treated them with dignity and respect. People were involved in their care and staff knew people’s needs and preferences well. Staff supported people to maintain their independence.

A range of activities were available to people according to their interests. The provider ensured information in people’s care plans was accurate as they were regularly reviewed. This meant they were reliable to staff to follow when caring for people. The provider involved people in their care reviews. A suitable complaints process was in place and people were confident any complaints they made would be investigated properly.

The service was well led and the registered manager and staff understood their roles and responsibilities. The provider encouraged open communication with people and staff. A range of suitable audits were in place to assess and monitor the quality of service delivery.

Further information is in the detailed findings section of the report.

Seven people living in the assisted living apartments had purchased a personal care and support package from the service.

We were able to speak with one of the people using the service. They spoke positively about their experiences of the service. They described staff that cared for them as ‘amazing’ and ‘patient’. They told us senior staff were approachable and they felt confident they would resolve any issues if these arose. People were provided with information about how to make a complaint if they were not happy with the service.

We saw evidence staff were given clear instructions and guidance on how to obtain people’s consent before carrying out any care or support. The person we spoke with confirmed staff asked for their permission before carrying out any care or support. Where people were unable to make decisions about their care, we saw family members were closely involved in developing and agreeing people’s care and support plans.

We looked at people’s records and saw current plans were in place to meet people’s care and support needs. Risks to people’s health, safety and welfare had been identified and plans were in place to manage these to keep people safe. People’s care plans and risk assessments had been reviewed and updated regularly so that staff had up to date information about people’s current care and support needs. Records kept by the provider were kept securely and appropriately maintained.

There were effective procedures in place to recruit and appoint staff and appropriate checks were made about their suitability to work for the service. The competency of new staff was assessed to ensure they had the appropriate skills and knowledge to care for and support people using the service. All staff were given appropriate training, guidance and equipment in order to maintain good personal hygiene and prevent the risks of cross infection when carrying out care and support. The person we spoke with said about staff “They keep everything very clean and tidy.”