The Care Quality Commission
  • Services in your home
  • Homecare service

Archived: Lewisham Office Also known as Eleanor Nursing and Social Care Limited - Lewisham Office

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Eleanor Nursing and Social Care Limited, 404 Lewisham High Street, Lewisham, London, SE13 6LJ (020) 8690 1911

Provided and run by:
Eleanor Nursing and Social Care Limited

Important: This service is now registered at a different address - see new profile

All Inspections

4 June 2015

During a routine inspection

Lewisham Office, also known as Eleanor Nursing and Social Care Limited - Lewisham Office, provides people with support, which includes personal care, in their own homes. Our previous inspection of the service took place on 3 December 2013. The service met all the regulations we checked at that time.

We announced this inspection two days in advance. At the time of the inspection 198 people were using the service. Most people’s needs had been assessed by the local authority who had then commissioned the service to provide a specific package of care.

There should be a registered manager for the service. 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.

The current branch manager of the service is not registered with CQC. We are reviewing the situation and will be taking action to ensure there is a registered manager for the service. At this inspection we found the branch manager had not informed CQC of safeguarding concerns. This may have put people at risk because we could not be sure that appropriate action to safeguard people had always been taken. There was breach of CQC regulations. Details of the action we told the provider to take are at the back of the full version of this report.

Staff assessed risks to people and took action to promote their safety. Staff clarified what support people needed with their medicines and planned and delivered appropriate assistance to them. There were enough staff available. People told us the service was reliable and they received their support visits as planned.

The service carried out recruitment checks to ensure staff were suitable. Staff were well trained and received support to carry out their duties. They gave people the support they needed to eat and drink and keep as healthy as possible.

Staff knew how to treat people with dignity and respected their privacy. People told us staff were kind and caring. Staff involved people in planning their care and support Staff delivered people’s support as planned. They regularly checked whether people’s needs had changed so that, if necessary, their support arrangements could be amended. People understood how to make a complaint and the managers of the service had responded to complaints appropriately.

Staff asked people to complete questionnaires about the service to check whether there were any areas for improvement. Staff told us the branch manager was open and supportive. A local authority commissioner told us the service was reliable and effective in meeting people’s support needs.

3 December 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke with ten people who used the service, and with three relatives. We sent surveys to forty people who used the service.

A health care professional told us the agency provided a responsive service. They said "This agency understands the importance of arranging the care and for a person to be discharged home promptly from hospital, they have the ability and capacity to accept referrals and reassess the persons needs at short notice, and to provide a reliable care package".

The relative of a person who received a large package of care told us "We have confidence in this agency, they send the same skilled and experienced carers who know how to provide personalised care, they look after our parents well".

One person said of the carers 'The male carer that comes in is top notch, he gives all the help I need and will not let me down'.

The service was well planned and staff took responsibility for ensuring that people had the care they needed. A care coordinator assigned the most appropriately skilled staff and matched them to the needs of the person requiring the service.

Staff retention at the agency was good; the majority of care staff have worked with the agency for a number of years.

22 February 2013

During a routine inspection

People using the service lived in the London boroughs of Lewisham, Bromley, Greenwich and Croydon. We spoke with 19 people using the service or their relatives, from across all of the boroughs. Most people we spoke with told us they received good care and support from their care workers. People described their current care workers as "good as gold", "helpful and pleasant", "very good with personal care" and "excellent". However, many people did raise concerns that when they first started using the service their care workers had poor timekeeping, were unreliable and the quality of care was not as they expected.

Appropriate arrangements were in place in relation to the management of medicines.

Our previous inspection on 14 February 2012 found that some staff had not completed mandatory training in a timely manner. When we inspected the service on 22 February 2013, we found that staff training was up to date.

Most people told us they had not used the service's complaints process to raise concerns, as they had not needed to. However, the provider may find it useful to note that two people told us they had had cause to make repeated complaints about their care workers in the last year, and they felt their complaints had not been satisfactorily addressed by the service.

14 February 2012

During an inspection in response to concerns

People and their family members told us that they received information about the organisation and were involved in the assessment and care planning processes. They said that they received a copy of their care plan.

Family members told us that they were involved in making decisions about people's care and support.

People said that staff did a good job and that they were satisfied by the service they provided. They said that staff had good working relationships with them. Staff were caring and friendly and that they respected people's privacy and dignity.

Most people told us that staff arrived on time and stayed for the allotted time. They said that the organisation informed them about their care and who would be providing it. Some people told us that sometimes they did not get their regular staff and new staff did not know the needs of the people who received the services.

People using the service and their families told us that they felt safe and comfortable with staff. One family member told us that in the past some staff had not been appropriately trained staff and they had experienced poor quality care; however, they said that the current staff were good.