MiHomecare - Raynes Park

Updated 14 September 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors. An Expert by Experience made phonecalls to people or their 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing.

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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 08 August 2022 and ended on 12 August 2022. We visited the location’s office on 08 August 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed information we held on our system about important incidents. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed seven people’s care records and six staff files. We spoke with nine members of staff. This included three care workers, two care co-ordinators, a field care supervisor, the regional manager, clinical and support manager and registered manager. Following the inspection, we spoke with 13 people or their relatives. We also reviewed a range of documents in relation to the management of the service; such as policies, audits and call monitoring data.

Updated 14 September 2022

About the service

MiHomecare Raynes Park is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 170 people at the time of inspection. The service provides support to older people.

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

Governance processes needed improvement to ensure they promptly rectified issues in relation to medicines administration recording, staff training and audits. Care records would have benefitted from additional personalisation.

Risk management plans were sufficient in responding to identified need. Staff arrived on time for calls; or communicated with the office or people where there were delays. Incidents and accidents were effectively investigated.

Staff received regular supervision and competency checks to ensure they were skilled in carrying out their role. People were supported to access other healthcare professionals and with their eating or drinking needs.

People and their relatives found staff to be caring. People’s support needs were respected and they were treated with privacy and dignity, Where able to do so, people were supported to be independent.

Care records reflected people’s needs. Where people wished to express their end of life wishes these were recorded. Complaints were appropriately responded to.

People, relatives and staff were positive about the management of the service and support they received. Staff felt supported to undertake their roles and raise any feedback.

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.

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 (published 27 February 2019).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified a breach in relation to good governance. We have made recommendations in relation to medicines management and training.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.