Eleanor Nursing & Social Care Ltd - Lewisham Office

Updated 22 June 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 3 inspectors and 2 experts by experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

The provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

The inspection activity started on 28 February 2023 and ended on 23 March 2023. We visited the location’s office on 28 February 2023.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed a range of records related to 30 people’s care and support. This included care plans, risk assessments and medicines records. We reviewed 10 staff files which included recruitment and training. We reviewed records in relation to the management of the service which included safeguarding incidents, quality assurance, minutes of staff meetings and a range of policies and procedures.

We spoke to 12 staff members. This included the registered manager, senior members of staff and four care workers. We spoke with 8 people and 12 relatives.

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found after the inspection. We looked at further quality assurance records and correspondence with a range of professionals related to people’s care.

Updated 22 June 2023

About the service

Eleanor Nursing & Social Care Ltd – Lewisham Office is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care for people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. At the time of the inspection 340 people were using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality commission inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we consider any wider social care provided.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

People’s experience of using the service

The provider had not carried out checks in relation to care workers ongoing right to reside or work in the UK, or their conduct in previous health and social care employment.

People said they felt safe with the care workers who supported them. One person said, “We feel that the service is safe.”

The provider had a range of quality assurance audits and checks to monitor how care was being provided. Staff worked well with other health and social care professionals to ensure people’s health needs were being met. Carers received an induction and were introduced to people before they begun to deliver care.

Medicines were managed safely; risk assessments were in place to guide carers on how to care for people safely. There were systems in place for reporting of incidents. Preventative measures and lessons learned were suitably documented.

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 the last inspection

The last rating for the service was Good (inspection report published 15 March 2022)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement

We found 1 breach of regulation in relation to fit and proper persons employed. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.