Network Healthcare - Harrow

Updated 3 July 2025

Network Healthcare - Harrow is a domiciliary care service. It provides support and personal care to people living in their own homes, some of whom live with dementia. At the time of our assessment there were 65 people receiving personal care.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspect the service received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

This was the first assessment of the service under its new legal entity since it was registered on 9 November 2022. We carried out this assessment to make sure the provider was meeting required standards.

Assessment activity started on 9 July 2025 and ended on 24 July 2025.

The registered manager was in post at the time of this assessment. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service operates.

We assessed all the quality statements from the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions. At this assessment, the overall rating for the service is requires improvement. We found breaches of legal regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance. Medicines administration was not always documented appropriately, and it was not always evident whether medicines had been administered as prescribed. Appropriate risk assessments were not always in place. Governance systems failed to identify concerns we found during this assessment. Some records required improvements to ensure information was detailed and informative. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

Safeguarding procedures were in place to help protect people from abuse and poor care. Staff told us they felt confident to speak up and felt they would be supported to do so. The provider encouraged an inclusive working environment where staff were treated fairly and valued.

The provider’s recruitment processes helped ensure checks were made on the suitability of staff. Staff undertook a range of training. They had the guidance and information they needed for their roles. Staff felt well supported and spoke positively about working at the service.

Staff worked with external professionals to assess, monitor and meet people’s healthcare needs.

Updated 3 July 2025

During this assessment, we spoke with 8 people and 6 relatives. People and relatives told us care staff were caring and supportive. A person said, “They are very kind in talking and they are polite.” Another person told us, “My carer is wonderful, very pleasant. They know where everything is and does it with a big smile.”

People told us they felt safe in the presence of care staff and the majority of people and relatives said they were confident that care staff had the skills and knowledge to care for people. A person said, “Generally I feel safe with the carers.” Another person told us, “I feel safe with the carer, [they] know what [they] are doing and help me a lot.”

The majority of people and relatives told us they felt able to complain and were confident that if they did, appropriate action would be taken, and improvements would be made.

We also spoke with 7 members of staff which included the director, registered manager and care staff. Staff told us they were well supported by management. They told us there was a positive morale amongst the team and the team worked well together to support people effectively.

We obtained feedback from 2 external professional as part of this assessment. Feedback obtained was positive and no concerns were raised.

While the people we spoke with expressed that they were generally happy with their care, our assessment found elements of care did not meet the expected standards.