About the service This service is a domiciliary care agency and is based in the London Borough of Havering. 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 144 people.
People’s experience of using this service
The service was safe. People had trust in staff and the service had procedures in place to protect people from abuse. Each person had a risk assessment and staff knew how to manage any identified risks.
Medicines were safely managed. Staff had training in medicines administration and there was a medicines auditing system in place. Accidents and incidents were recorded and the registered manager drew lessons to avoid a repeat of incidents. Staff followed infection control procedures.
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.
The service supported staff and provided them with ongoing training.
People received appropriate support with their meals. Staff knew about people's nutritional needs including their preferences due to cultural, religious or health needs. Staff had a good knowledge about equality and diversity. Staff also supported people to have access to healthcare.
Staff were polite and caring towards people. They respected people’s privacy and dignity. They encouraged people to live as independently as possible in their own homes. People were supported to maintain relationships with their relatives.
Care plans detailed people's needs and how they wanted staff to support them. This showed people received person-centred care. People's preferred ways of communication, their hobbies and interests were detailed in their assessments and care plans. Staff knew people's support needs and provided them with appropriate care. The registered manager welcomed complaints and used them as a tool for making improvements to the service.
A quality assurance system was part of the service. This meant people, relatives and staff were able to share their views and influence 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
The last rating for this service was good (report published 15 June 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.