27 June 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Blake Court Limited provides personal care to older people living within an extra care setting. People using the service lived within flats as part of a gated community in North London. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting eight people with the regulated activity of personal care.
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 and their relatives told us they felt safe with the care and support they or their relative received. However, despite positive feedback we found issues with the management of people risks, management of medicines and management oversight which placed people at increased risk of harm.
The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service, however they did not identify the issues we found during the inspection. We found the service had not addressed concerns found at the previous inspection.
We made a recommendation around staff recruitment.
People were kept safe from the risk of infection and COVID-19.
People were supported by kind and caring staff who understood their responsibility to report any concerns.
Staff told us the management team was supportive and they could raise any concerns. People and their relatives told us they were satisfied with the service provided.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 6 May 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. At this inspection we found the provider remained in breach of regulations. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 16 March 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment, staff recruitment and good governance.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained the same. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Blake Court Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.
We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.