Background to this inspection
Updated
21 November 2019
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.
The service had a registered manager, who was also the provider. This means that they are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The registered manager was away at the time of the inspection. The service operation manager supported us with the inspection.
Notice of inspection
Our inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that a member of the management team would be in the office to support with the inspection.
The inspection activity started on 30 October 2019 and ended on 30 October 2019. We visited the office location on 30 October 2019.
What we did before the inspection
Due to technical problems, the provider was not able to complete a Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
We reviewed the information we already held about the service. This included details of its registration, and notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with the service operations manager. We reviewed documents and records that related to people’s care and the management of the service. We reviewed two care plans, which included risk assessments and four staff files, which included pre-employment checks. We looked at other documents such as training and quality assurance records.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence we found such as looking at training data. We also contacted professionals that were involved with the service to obtain feedback. We also spoke to one person and two staff.
Updated
21 November 2019
About the service
This service is a domiciliary care agency and is based in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. The service provides personal care to adults in their own homes. 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.
At the time of our inspection, the service provided personal care to two people.
People’s experience of using this service
Since our last inspection on 24 September 2018, improvements had been made on risk assessments, pre-employment checks, training and quality assurance processes. Care plans contained suitable and sufficient risk assessments to effectively manage risks and keep people safe. Pre-employment checks had been carried out to ensure staff were suitable to support people. Staff had been trained to perform their roles effectively. Audits were being carried out to ensure people always received safe, high quality care.
People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice. People's ability to communicate was recorded, however, information did not include how to communicate with people effectively based on their communication ability. We made a recommendation in this area.
People told us that they were safe when supported by staff. People told us staff were punctual and systems were in place to monitor time keeping. Systems were in place for infection control and to learn lessons following incidents.
People received care from staff who were kind and compassionate. Staff treated people with dignity and respected their privacy. Staff had developed positive relationships with the people they supported. They understood people’s needs, preferences, and what was important to them.
Care plans were person centred and included people’s support needs. Care plans had been reviewed regularly to ensure they were accurate. Complaints had been managed in a timely manner.
Systems were in place to obtain feedback from people and relatives. People and staff were positive about the management of the service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 2 November 2018). We identified four breach of Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 relating to risk assessments, pre-employment checks, staff training and good governance.
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection, we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the rating of the last inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.