Archived: Mears Care - Hammersmith & Fulham

Mears Care - Hammersmith & Fulham is registered to provide personal care and support to people living in their own homes. Mears Care Limited is a national provider of care services. The Hammersmith & Fulham branch provides support to people living in the London Boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham and Wandsworth. At the time of our inspection the majority of people who used the service were adults over the age of 65 years, although there were some younger adults with learning disabilities, physical disabilities or mental health needs. Some people were living with the experience of dementia. There were around 150 people using the service at the time of our inspection.

The last inspection of the service took place on 20 July 2015 when we rated the service Good. We did not find any breaches of Regulation.

The service remained Good when we inspected it on 6 June 2017.

People were happy with the service. They liked the care workers who visited them and thought they were kind and caring. They said that the care workers listened to them and respected their choices. People had been involved in planning and reviewing their care and were happy with the care provided. People told us they could contact the office and speak with them when they needed. They felt safe and they told us they had the support they needed with medicines.

The staff were happy working for the agency. They felt well supported. They told us they had the training and information they needed to care for people. The staff were recruited in a way which ensured they were suitable to work with vulnerable people. The agency checked how the care workers were supporting people and took action when things were not right.

People told us their care workers arrived on time and stayed for the agreed length of time and care workers told us they had enough time to travel between care visits. There were suitable systems for planning care visits and making sure there were enough staff to meet people's needs.

People knew how to make a complaint and felt their concerns were taken seriously. They felt listened to and their care was regularly reviewed. The service was well managed by an experienced registered manager who knew the needs of individual people who used the service and the staff. Records were appropriately maintained, up to date and accurate. There were systems for monitoring the quality of the service and making sure people were happy with the care they received.

The staff told us that they felt well supported, that they had the training they needed and that they had enough information so that they could care for the people they supported.

Some of the things that people said were, ''if I paid a million pounds I would not get a better service'', ''I cannot fault them'', ''they go above and beyond the call of duty'', ''the staff who visit us and those in the office are very nice people'' and ''they are very willing to help and very thorough''.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and we saw that these checks had led to improvements for individuals and for the agency in general.

People and their relatives, were mostly positive about the care and support people received from the regular care workers. Comments we received included, 'everything works well and my [family member's] needs are fulfilled' and 'my [family member] is looked after wonderfully'. However, one person said some of the staff were very good but others were not so good and needed additional training.

Staff received training, supervision and appraisals to make sure they were appropriately supported to do their work. All staff we spoke with were satisfied with the way the management team supported them.

Care records were drawn up and reviewed with people or their relatives. These were up to date and appropriately addressed people's needs. We found that some visits did not take place at the times identified in people's care plans. As a result some people did not receive their care at the times that had been agreed for them.

The provider had a number of arrangements in place to monitor and assess the quality of the service. These included yearly satisfaction surveys, telephone surveys, spot checks and records audits. Action plans were in place where required to address areas for improvements.