Profad Care Agency

Updated 15 July 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and two experts by experience. 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.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authorities and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed a range of records including 10 people’s care and medicine records and five staff files in relation to recruitment, training, and supervision. We also reviewed accidents and incidents and safeguarding records. We spoke with the registered manager and the senior quality officer and we made calls to 20 people who received care and 17 relatives to get their feedback on the care and support they received.

After the inspection

We made calls to five care workers and a training manager. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We reviewed samples of electronic call monitoring (ECM) data for 10 people. We gathered feedback from four health and social care professionals who worked with the provider to plan care and support.

Updated 15 July 2021

About the service

Profad Care Agency is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care and support to people living in their homes. 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. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. At the time of our inspection the provider was supporting 94 people in the London Borough of Southwark.

People’s experience of using this service

Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were identified and effective measures put in place to mitigate these. Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and whistleblowing procedures and knew how to report any concerns they had with people’s safety. People’s medicines were managed safely by staff who had received the relevant training. The provider followed safe recruitment processes. There were safe infection control procedures to reduce the risks associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. The provider had not identified some issues with timekeeping that we found in the electronic care monitoring (ECM) system data we reviewed. We have made a recommendation about improving the way the system is monitored.

The provider had made improvements to the quality assurance and auditing processes since the last inspection and there was an effective system in place to ensure? safe care was maintained. People told us they received the care and support they needed, and managers regularly checked on them to make sure they were happy with their service. We received comments such as, “I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending the agency” and “They are very efficient and caring. They care about our welfare.” The provider worked in partnership with other professionals to plan and deliver care. One professional told us, “Our recent experience with this provider is excellent.”

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 good (published 29 January 2018)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating. The overall rating for this service has remained good.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.