Diversity Health and Social Care Bow Branch

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

Full pre- employment checks were not always conducted before people were hired to work, as we found not all care workers had full employment histories on their file. The provider was not consistently promoting a positive culture within the service as people did not find office staff helpful in relation to their complaints about the timeliness of care calls.

The provider safely managed people’s medicines and were auditing people’s medicines administration records. The provider was also conducting monitoring calls with people to get feedback on their care but were also unable to demonstrate the frequency of these.

The provider was working within the principles of the MCA, had effective systems and processes in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse and safely managed risks to people’s health and safety. There were clear systems in place to minimise and control the spread of infection and lessons were learned when things went wrong.

The provider used an electronic system to monitor care calls, which was constantly reviewed. They were aware of concerns relating to timeliness and lack of care worker consistency and had taken action in respect of specific complaints they had received.

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 23 May 2023) and there was a breach of regulations. 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 the provider remained in breach of regulations.

At our last inspection we made recommendations in relation to the safe management of people’s medicines and consent. At this inspection, we found the provider had acted on those recommendations.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted due to concerns we received about the safety and quality of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

Enforcement and recommendations

We have found a breach in relation to staffing.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of the full version of this report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Diversity Health and Social Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides personal care to older people, some of whom have dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 158 people using the service.

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

The service was not working consistently within the principles of the MCA as staff were not clear about their responsibilities under the Act and were unclear on whether one person had capacity to consent to their care or not.

People and their relatives gave good feedback about the service.

Risks to people’s care were managed appropriately. Risk assessments identified risks to people’s health and safety and included guidelines for care workers to follow in order to mitigate these.

The provider safeguarded people from the risk of abuse. Care workers demonstrated a good understanding about the signs of abuse as well as what to do in the event of this happening. The provider trained staff in this area every year and followed appropriate procedures in managing any allegations of abuse.

People’s care was monitored to ensure it was delivered on time and there were no missed care calls. The provider used an electronic system to monitor care calls, which was constantly reviewed. Where concerns were identified, these were followed up immediately. Most care calls were conducted on time.

Staff gave good feedback about the management of the service and enjoyed working there. The provider had effective monitoring and auditing systems in place to identify issues with the quality 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 and update: The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 17 September 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. 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 inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement and recommendations

We have found breaches in relation to consent.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of the full version of this report.

We have made recommendations in relation to the safe management of people’s medicines and consent.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Diversity Health and Social Care Bow Branch is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to younger disabled adults, older people, including people living with dementia and some receiving end of life 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.

At the time of the inspection the provider was supporting 205 people in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Although the issues we found did not directly impact the level of care and support people received, improvements were needed with the level of information and quality of risk assessments in place.

Important information related to people’s care and support was not always recorded or in place and monitoring processes were not always effective as they had not picked up all the issues we found during this inspection.

People and their relatives were positive about the kind and caring attitude of the staff team. New staff were introduced to people and shadowed visits to ensure they had a good understanding of their care needs. One person said, “I feel safe as I have had the same carer for two years and I trust them.”

The provider tried to be as flexible as possible and listened to people to try and accommodate their needs. People and their relatives were given opportunities to feedback about the service and there were measures in place to address any issues and make the necessary improvements.

Staff monitored people’s health and wellbeing and reported any changes or concerns to the relevant health and social care professionals. One relative said, “They look after [family member] well, keep them motivated which has been good for their overall health.”

People and their relatives were positive about the management team and felt comfortable contacting them if they needed to. People were confident they would be listened to and told us any issues they had raised had been resolved.

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

People were supported by a staff team who felt valued and supported in their role, especially during challenging periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. People and their relatives told us they were grateful there had been little to no impact on the care they received during the pandemic.

Health and social care professionals were positive about the attitude of the management team and how they were proactive in building relationships and taking on board advice and guidance. However, they felt areas of improvement were still needed across the service.

We have made two recommendations in relation to updating medicines records and end of life care.

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 13 July 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

Although we found some improvements at this inspection it had not been sustained and the provider was still in breach of regulations. The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the second time.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 29 April 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 how they recorded consent to care.

Our intelligence indicated there may be a higher level of risk at this service due to the length of time since the last inspection.

Enforcement

We have identified two breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service. If we receive any concerning information we may return to inspect.

Diversity Health and Social Care Bow Branch is a domiciliary care agency providing 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 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 the inspection, the service was supporting 280 people and 240 of these people were receiving support with their personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were not always provided with care in line with their valid consent as appropriate procedures had not always been followed to ensure that the care provided was in people’s best interests.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe using the service.

The provider conducted appropriate risk assessments in relation to people’s physical healthcare needs, but we found there was not always enough information recorded on these in relation to people’s mental healthcare needs. The provider made appropriate changes to care records we identified during our inspection.

People were supported by care workers who had received appropriate background checks prior to their employment.

People were supported to take their medicines in accordance with their needs.

People were provided with safe and hygienic care by their care workers.

The provider investigated and learned from accidents and incidents to ensure that appropriate lessons were learned and improvements were made to care.

People and their families were consulted as part of the initial assessment of their needs and their care was based on this.

People were supported by care workers who had received the appropriate induction, training and supervision to do their jobs.

People were supported appropriately with their nutritional and healthcare needs.

People’s privacy and dignity was respected and people’s diverse needs were supported.

The provider supported people to communicate their needs and involved people in their care.

The provider supported people to maintain their independent living skills.

People were given choices as part of their care in order to maintain control in their lives.

People were supported with their social needs where this formed part of their package of care.

People’s complaints were responded to appropriately.

People’s feedback was sought and acted on appropriately.

Rating at last inspection:

The service was registered on 7 December 2018 and this is our first inspection of the service.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on our routine scheduling programme.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information and intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection guidelines. We may inspect sooner if any concerning information is received.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.