We carried out a review of the data available to us about KT's Care Angels Ltd on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about KT's Care Angels Ltd, you can give feedback on this service.
KT’s Care Angels Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. The service provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This includes help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people receive such support, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 44 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they felt safe with the staff who supported them. Risks were assessed and managed.
People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff. People we spoke with confirmed they did not experience any missed calls. When accidents and incidents occurred these were documented, and action was taken to ensure people had access to the healthcare support they needed.
Staff showed a good understanding of safeguarding, and supported people to take their medicines safely. People and relatives we spoke with told us staff wore appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when supporting them.
People were provided with personalised care to meet their needs. This included supporting people to access information in a way that was meaningful to them. People told us they were happy with the care provided and knew how to raise concerns if and when they needed to.
Staff spoke positively about the support they received and the quality of the service.
The service promoted high quality, person centred care and had an open and honest culture. Audits and checks were in place to monitor the quality of the service. The registered manager was approachable and supportive and provided strong leadership to the team.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
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 10 January 2020).
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.
At our last inspection we made a recommendation about person centred care planning and monitoring staff deployment. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on the recommendations and had made improvements.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 24 October 2019. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve 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, Responsive 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 changed from requires improvement to good. 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 KT’s Care Angels Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.
KT's Care Angels Ltd is a domiciliary care service that provides care and support to 132 people living in their own houses or flats in the community. 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’s care plans were not person centred and were task focused.We have made a recommendation about person centred care planning.
We received some feedback about instances of staff lateness and timekeeping concerns. We have made a recommendation about monitoring staff deployment.
Medicines records lacked information in relation to topical creams used by people.
There were systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service provided. However, were not robust to identify that improvements were needed in relation to staff timekeeping, recording of topical creams and care plans not being person centred.
People told us they felt safe using the service. Where risks were identified, management plans were in place to manage these risks safely. Staff followed appropriate infection control practices. Accident and incidents were recorded and acted upon. Any lessons learnt were used as opportunities to improve the quality of service.
Assessments were carried out prior to people joining the service to ensure their needs could be met. Staff had the training, knowledge and experience to meet people's needs. People were supported to maintain good health and had access to a range of healthcare services when needed. People were supported with their food and drink.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
There were procedures in place to respond to complaints. The provider had investigated and responded promptly to any concerns received.
The provider worked in partnership with healthcare services and professionals to plan and deliver an effective service.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good (published 28 April 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
This inspection took place on the 14 March 2017 and was announced. This was the first inspection since the service was registered in October 2015. KT's Care Angels Ltd is a medium sized domiciliary care agency providing care and reablement to older people in their own homes. The service forms part of the Carewatch Franchise Association. The majority of the people using the service had been commissioned from Ealing and Brent local authorities. At the time of our inspection 110 people were receiving a personal care service.
The service had a registered manager who had been in post since the service registered in 2015. 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’s needs were assessed and care plans were developed to identify what care and support people required. People said they were involved in their care planning and were happy to express their views or raise concerns. When people’s needs changed, this was identified and prompt, appropriate action was taken to ensure people’s well-being was protected. People had a copy of their care plan in their home.
People experienced positive outcomes as a result of the service they received and gave us good feedback about their care and support.
People were safe. Staff understood how to recognise the signs and symptoms of potential abuse and told us they would report any concerns they may have to their manager. Assessments were undertaken to assess any risks to the people using the service and the staff supporting them. This included environmental risks and any risks due to people’s health and support needs. The risk assessments we viewed included information about action to be taken to minimise these risks.
Staff were motivated and proud to work for the service; as a result staff turnover was kept to a minimum ensuring that continuity of care was in place for most people who used the service.
Staff were respectful of people’s privacy and maintained their dignity. Staff told us they gave people privacy whilst they undertook aspects of personal care, asking people how they would like things done and making enquiries as to their well-being to ensure people were comfortable.
The service followed safe recruitment practices and carried out appropriate checks before staff started supporting people. There were sufficient numbers of staff to safely meet people’s needs.
The registered manager was passionate about her role and demonstrated leadership and a good understanding of the importance of effective quality assurance systems. There were processes in place to monitor quality and understand the experiences of people who used the service. We saw that regular visits and phone calls had been made by the office staff to people using the service and their relatives in order to obtain feedback about the staff and the care provided.
Care staff received regular supervision and support from their managers. These processes gave staff an opportunity to discuss their performance and identify any further training they required. Care staff placed a high value on their supervision and support. The service had recently appointed a training manager to ensure a robust program of mandatory training was in place.
People were supported to eat and drink, and supported people to take their medicines when required and liaised with their GP and other healthcare professionals as required to meet people’s needs.
The service had a complaints policy. People who used the service and their relatives told us they knew how to make a complaint if needed.