Servesoul - Camden Office

Updated 14 December 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post. This person was also the director of the company that owned the service.

Notice of inspection.

This inspection was unannounced, although we informed the service shortly before our arrival that we were visiting to carry out this inspection.

Inspection activity started on 5 September 2022 and ended on 26 October 2022. We visited the location’s office on 15 and 23 September 2022.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We reviewed information we held about the service, for example, statutory notifications. A notification is information about events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager and further two office based staff. We received feedback from one person using the service and one relative. We also received feedback from seven care staff. We looked at a range of records. This included ten people’s care records, focusing on people who lived alone and the potential risks they faced, including from fire. We also looked at four staff recruitment background check records including a check of criminal records for the four care staff recruited in the previous six months prior to this inspection visit. Records relating to the management of the service, such as quality monitoring records, were also seen.

Updated 14 December 2022

About the service

Servesoul – Camden Office is a large domiciliary care agency that provides support to people in their own homes. It provides a service to predominantly older adults. At the time of our inspection there were 150 people using the service. People using the service lived in two London Boroughs in north and south London.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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

Staff had received training about safeguarding and knew how to respond to, and report, any allegation or suspicion of harm or abuse.

People’s care plans and risk assessments included information about their care and support needs and preferences. However, risk assessments did not always provide evidence that common risks, for example fire safety, had been considered. The provider had made changes to the risk assessment format which they showed us on the second day of the inspection and they told us that this will be implemented.

The recruitment procedures were designed to ensure that care staff were suitable for the work they would be undertaking. We viewed a sample of recruitment records for care staff employed since our previous inspection and found that background checks were being carried out.

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.

People and their family were involved in decisions about their care, which was evident in the care plans we viewed and from the feedback we received from people using the service and relatives. Since the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, the provider had begun to re-introduce face to face spot checks and meetings with people during visits to people’s own homes.

Information about people’s religious, cultural and communication needs was included in their care plans.

People were asked about their views of the care and support that they received using telephone calls, feedback questionnaires and during visits to people at their own home.

Some things worked well but there were risks that this could be undermined as management oversight was not diligent enough to prevent avoidable mistakes being made. Improvement was required to the oversight to ensure that risk assessments were being completed fully in some cases. Statutory notifications to CQC, that are required by law, had improved but consistency in submitting these notifications was still not being sustainably achieved.

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 22 October 2021).

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

Why we inspected

We undertook a targeted inspection to follow up on specific concerns which we had received about the service. The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about notifications not being made in good time and a recent death of someone in their own home due to a fire. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We inspected and found there was a concern with risk assessments not evidencing that all common potential risks were considered in most cases. Information held by the service was held on different sites and not readily accessible when requested. For these reasons we widened the scope of the inspection to become a focused inspection which included the key questions of safe and well-led.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

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 one breach of regulation in relation to safe care and treatment (regulation 12) and have made a recommendation in respect of achieving consistent and sustainable improvement to making statutory notifications to CQC.

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 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.