Clarity Homecare (Hillingdon)

About the service

Clarity Homecare (Hillingdon) is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 11 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

Overall, service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture. However, in terms of consent to care, we have recommended the provider is consistent in following the principles of the Mental capacity Act (2005). Additionally, we have recommended the provider consider the most relevant guidance around safe recruitment practices.

Right Support

Overall, 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. Staff focused on people’s strengths and promoted what they could do. People were supported by staff to pursue their interests as part of their care plan. Staff supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing. Staff supported people with their medicines in a safe way.

Right Care

Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. They understood people’s cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs. Appropriate risk assessments were in place. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs.

Right Culture

People received good quality care, support and treatment because trained staff could meet their needs and wishes. People and those important to them were involved in planning their care. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate.

For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 10 May 2022) 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

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 14 March 2022. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve person centred care, safe care and treatment and 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, Effective, 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 remained requires improvement. 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 Clarity Homecare (Hillingdon) 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.

Clarity Homecare (Hillingdon) is a care agency providing personal care and support 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, eight people were receiving a regulated activity. These were mainly older people but the service also supported younger people with their general care needs.

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

During the inspection we found the management of risks was not always effective as risk management plans were not always developed to provide care workers with guidance on mitigating the identified risks to people. Care plans were not always updated appropriately to meet people’s current needs according to their needs and preferences.

We found medicines were generally managed safely, but creams were not always correctly identified or recorded. We have made a recommendation about the management of topical medicines.

The principles of the Mental Capacity Act were not always followed. This meant people were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not always support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

We recommended the provider consider current guidance around the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and take action to update their practice accordingly.

The provider had systems in place to monitor, manage and improve service delivery, however these were not always effective because they had not identified the shortfalls we found during the inspection.

The provider had procedures to safeguard people from the risk of abuse and systems in place to record safeguarding alerts, complaints, and incidents appropriately.

Safe recruitment procedures were followed. Staff followed appropriate infection prevention and control practices. Care workers were supported in their roles through training and supervision.

Relatives of people who used the service told us managers were available and responsive when they had questions.

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

This service was registered with us on 2 June 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted by the date of registration of this service.

Enforcement

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe, effective and well led sections of this full report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

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