Archived: Focus Care Link - Tower Hamlets

Updated 19 May 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 21 and 23 March 2017. The inspection was announced and was carried out by one inspector. We gave the provider 72 hours’ notice to ensure the key people we needed to speak with were available. Two experts by experience made telephone calls and spoke with 10 people using the service and nine relatives to obtain their views about the care they received from the provider. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before the inspection, we checked information that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) held about the service including their previous inspection report, their action plan following our last inspection and notifications sent to CQC by the provider. The notifications provide us with information about key changes to the service and any significant concerns reported by the provider.

During the inspection, we spoke with the administrator, two care coordinators, the branch manager and the director. We looked at the records in relation to 15 people’s care including their medicines records. We also viewed eight staff recruitment and training records, minutes of meetings, surveys, quality assurance audits, complaints, staff rotas and some of the records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection we contacted 29 care workers and spoke with 10 of them.

Updated 19 May 2017

We inspected Focus Care Link on 21 and 23 March 2017, the inspection was announced. We gave the provider 72 hours’ notice to ensure the key people we needed to speak with were available. Our last inspection took place on 26 January 2016 where we found breaches of regulations in relation to consent, safe care and treatment, person centred care and the provider did not notify us of significant incidents that had occurred in the service.

Focus Care Link provides personal care and support for people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were 159 people using the service in the borough of Tower Hamlets.

There had not been a registered manager in post since June 2016. The branch manager operated the day to day running of the service and was present on the second day of our inspection and told us they had applied for the registered managers post 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.

Risk assessments were in place and updated to show how risks could be managed and reduced, however risks related to people’s home environment were not always fully assessed to reduce the likelihood of harm. People were encouraged to remain independent and care plans showed staff how this should be done. Reviews of people’s care needs had been carried out in collaboration with relatives and the professionals involved in their care where appropriate.

Allegations of abuse had been investigated and safeguards put in place to protect people from harm but the Care Quality Commission (CQC) had not been notified of these incidents. Care visits were monitored to provide people with their calls on time.

Some people were supported to take their medicines, however some records did not fully include the guidance that staff required to make certain medicines were managed safely. Medicines training had been completed by the staff and their competency was regularly checked.

Thorough background checks were carried out on staff before they were employed by the provider. Staff were equipped with the skills and knowledge they required to ensure people received safe care. Staff spoke positively about the provider and told us the service was well led.

The provider followed the legal requirements in relation to the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005.

People’s dietary requirements were met but did not include their food preferences. Communication between the provider and health professionals was frequent to make sure people had access to healthcare services when they needed this.

Care was carried out in a dignified and respectful manner. Staff took the time to speak with people about their preferred pastimes and they told us staff were attentive, helpful and caring.

Quality assurance systems were in place to assess the quality of care; however these did not always identify the shortfalls we found. Surveys were carried out to capture people’s feedback and action was taken to improve how the provider delivered their service.

Systems were in place to monitor and respond to complaints and people had information that contained guidance for them about how to report concerns, however information was not provided in an accessible format.

We have made two recommendations about the safe management of medicines and the accessibility of information. We found one continuous breach of regulations about the notification of safeguarding incidents. You can see what action we asked the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.