Soma Healthcare (East London)

Updated 1 August 2023

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location, we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff

Inspection team

A single inspector carried out this inspection. An expert by experience made telephone calls to people and relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Soma Healthcare (East London) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 4 July 2023 and ended on 20 July 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. We spoke to the registered manager, office manager and 4 staff members. We spoke to 2 people and 1 relative to gain their views about the service.

Updated 1 August 2023

About the service

Soma Healthcare (East London) is a domiciliary care service that provides care and support to people living in their own houses or flats in the community. At the time of our inspection, 4 people were 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 had safeguarding procedures in place and staff had a clear understanding of these procedures. Appropriate recruitment checks had taken place before staff started work and there were enough staff available to meet people’s care and support needs. Risks to people had been assessed to ensure their needs were safely met. The service had procedures in place to reduce the risk of infections. People’s medicines were managed safely.

People’s care and support needs were assessed before they started using the service. Staff were supported through induction, training, regular supervision and annual appraisals. 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 to maintain a healthy balanced diet and had access to healthcare professionals when they needed them.

People's privacy, dignity and independence was promoted. People and relatives told us staff were kind and caring.

People and relatives spoke positively about the service and said they felt safe. People received person centred care, which met their needs and preferences. The service had a complaints procedure in place. No one at the service was receiving end of life care.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. The service worked in partnership with health and social care providers to plan and deliver an effective service. The service took the views of people and their relatives into account.

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 11 October 2021)

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.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.