Archived: NTA - Tooting Neighbourhood Centre Home Care

Updated 7 June 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

We undertook this comprehensive inspection on 27 April and 11 May 2017. The inspection was announced, the provider was given 48 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service; we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before we visited the service we checked the information that we held about it, including notifications sent to us informing us of significant events that occurred at the service.

During the inspection we spoke with the previous registered manager, the assistant operations administrator, the quality assurance assistant, a senior care worker and two care workers. We looked at five care records, four staff records, training records, complaints and audits related to the management of the service.

After the inspection, we spoke with two people using the service and three relatives.

Updated 7 June 2017

This inspection took place on 27 April and 11 May 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service; we needed to be sure that someone would be in. A comprehensive inspection was carried out on 19 January 2016 during which breaches of regulation in relation to safe care and treatment and fit and proper persons employed were found. We then carried out a focussed inspection on 11 August 2016 at which time the provider had met their action plan in response to the breaches found, however we did not improve the rating at this inspection.

NTA - Tooting Neighbourhood Centre Home Care provides personal care for people in their own homes, the majority within the London Borough of Wandsworth. At the time of our inspection there were 43 people receiving personal care from the service.

There was a registered manager at the service however they were not managing the service at the time of the inspection. An interim manager was in place and the director told us they had recently recruited a permanent manager who would be applying to become the registered manager. 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.

People and their relatives told us that care workers had a caring attitude and they had no concerns about their suitability for a role in providing care. They said they felt safe in their presence and they were trustworthy. The provider had organised a ‘carers recognition day’ where awards were given to care workers that had excelled in their duties.

Care plans were written in plain English and easy to understand. They were split into client details, service information, objectives and the agreement between people and the service. Details of the tasks to be completed by care workers and the agreed hours were documented. Care plans contained person centred information in relation to people’s preferences about their life choices, their health needs, meals and other information related to their care. Objectives included how care workers could support people to lead independent lives in a range of areas such as maintaining a balanced diet, mobility, continence and other areas.

Work had been completed to ensure that all staff files contained appropriate reference identity and criminal record checks. This helped to ensure that care workers were recruited safely.

Care workers were given opportunities to develop through regular training opportunities. They received regular supervision.

Risk assessments were completed when people first started to use the service. Some of the areas that were assessed included the environment, moving and handling, equipment, COSHH, electrical appliances and fire safety amongst others. For those that needed more support with moving and handling, a separate, more detailed assessment was in place which included moving and handling guidelines from occupational therapists.

The provider had adequate systems in place to monitor the quality of the care and support people received. The quality assurance policy made reference for the need for one quality assurance check to be completed annually.

Senior care workers were responsible for carrying out spot checks and monitoring. These included checking medicine administration record (MAR) charts in people’s homes.

Feedback was sought through surveys and we saw actions were identified and assigned to people to follow up.