Archived: Carewatch (Camden & Haringey)

Updated 10 June 2015

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 previous inspection took place on 10 September 2014 and was a follow up inspection to check on the action taken in response to a breach of regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010, Consent to Care and Treatment. During the visit we found that the service was still in breach of regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 and on the 22 September 2014 a warning notice was served.

During this visit we checked Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010, Consent to Care and Treatment and found that the provider had reviewed there processes for gaining consent to care and treatment and the care records we saw had been signed appropriately.

This inspection took place on 17 March and was announced. The provider was given 24 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service.

The inspection team included two inspectors and an expert-by-experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

We gathered information from the local authority, other notifications and examples of how the service had responded to complaints.

During our inspection we spoke with ten people using the service, one relative, six staff members including the manager, a local authority commissioning team manager and a safeguarding manager.

As part of this inspection we reviewed seven people’s care plans and care records. We looked at the induction, training and supervision records for the staff team. We reviewed other records such as complaints information and quality monitoring and audit information.

Updated 10 June 2015

This inspection took place on 17 March 2015 and it was unannounced.

Carewatch (Camden & Haringey) is a domiciliary care agency based in Camden, North London. The agency provides support services and personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, there were twenty six people using the service who were being provided with personal care, including older people and those with learning and physical disabilities.

There was a registered manager in place at the time of the visit. 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.

The risk assessment reviews we saw only recorded ‘no change’ but did not indicate how this conclusion had been made. They did not record sufficient information to identify each risk and to determine the action required to minimise such risks.

Staff were not always supervised regularly to ensure they were supported to care for people with complex needs. One staff file we looked at recorded the last supervision date in March 2012 and another February 2013

People did not always have an identifiable care plan in place and reviews of care plans did not always provide information of how they were carried out. Some parts of the care records had gaps in information, for example there was no life history on three records we looked at.

Arrangements for checking the quality of the service provided were not always in place. Although some audits were carried out, there was no evidence of how improvements would be made or how outcomes are measured.

We found that people were safe from harm and there were sufficient numbers of staff to meet the needs of the people who used the service.

Staff were appropriately skilled and knowledgeable to provide care and support to people using the service. Staff records showed that care workers all received induction training when they started working for the service as well as the number of mandatory training courses.

Staff had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). They had received training in the MCA and DoLS.

We saw that staff developed good relationships with people and they were treated with dignity and respect. They were knowledgeable about the people they supported and knew about their preferences in order to support them safely.

Some feedback from people was gathered from telephone monitoring and general telephone discussions. This assisted the registered manager to deal with concerns day to day. We saw a complaints book and log that demonstrated complaints had been addressed and resolved appropriately.

At this inspection we found several breaches of the HSCA 2008. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report