Cornerstone Care Services Professionals Ltd

Updated 2 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. 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

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector and an Expert 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.

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 Care Quality Commission 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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and people are often out of the office, and we wanted to be sure a member of the management team would be available to support us with the inspection

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the registered provider, including previous notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the registered provider is required to send to us by law.

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 sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We reviewed the action plan the provider sent us. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people's care records and risk assessments and 2 people's medicines records. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, staff training, satisfaction surveys, policies and procedures. We also spoke with the registered manager and team administrator.

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We requested additional evidence to be sent to us after our inspection. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with 3 care workers, 5 people who used the service and 3 relatives by telephone about their experience of the care provided.

Updated 2 December 2022

About the service

Cornerstone Care Services Professionals Ltd is a domiciliary care agency and is based in the London Borough of Havering. The service provides personal care to people in their own homes. 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.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

The service was supporting 14 people with personal care at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Systems and processes were in place to support people’s safety. People’s needs, including their safety were assessed and monitored. People using the service were being supported by consistent staff who had been safely recruited and knew them well. Feedback was positive from the person and their family regarding the support they received.

The registered manager undertook assessments before agreeing to support people to ensure that their individual needs and preferences could be met. People's support plans were developed in partnership with them and/or their family. Staff received an induction and were trained in areas that were relevant to people they were supporting.

Medicines were managed safely. Staff were provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect people from the risk of cross infection.

There had been no incidents or accidents, but there were systems in place to ensure lessons were learned when things went wrong.

Care plans were person centred and staff knew what people liked. People's communication needs were met. There had been no complaints, but people were provided information on how to complain, if they wanted to.

Systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service were in place. Staff reported having a positive relationship with the provider and felt communication was effective.

People and staff were pleased with how the service was managed. The provider was open to change and improvement and promoted what was best for people. The registered manager knew about their duty of care and regulatory requirements. People were able to engage with the service and provide feedback about the care. Staff could provide input into the service through meetings and supervision.

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 24 April 2020). 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 carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection in April 2020. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.