Background to this inspection
Updated
28 June 2019
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:
Care Support Newham Branch is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses, flats and specialist housing. It provides a service to older and younger disabled adults.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. We were advised they were currently recruiting for a registered manager. A registered manager with the provider is 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 it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
The inspection started on 2 May 2019 and finished on the same day. We visited the office location on 2 May 2019 to speak to staff, review care records, policies and procedures.
What we did:
Before the inspection, we asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). We used the information the provider sent us in the PIR. 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.
During the inspection we spoke to the operations manager, training manager, director, HR manager, two administrators, three coordinators and two field supervisors.
We looked at records relating to the management of the service. This included policies and procedures, incident and accident records, safeguarding records, complaint records, 10 staff recruitment files, training and supervision records, 15 care plans, satisfaction surveys and quality assurance systems.
After the inspection we spoke to nine carers, eight people who used the service and two relatives.
Updated
28 June 2019
About the service:
Care Support Newham Branch is a domiciliary care agency that was providing personal care to 156 people at the time of the inspection.
People’s experience of using this service:
People who used the service told us they were kept safe and their relatives confirmed this was the case as well.
People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse at the service and staff knew how to whistle blow if they witnessed poor practice.
Risk assessments were in place to protect people from known risks and staff were always aware of risk when in people’s homes.
Safe recruitment practices were followed to ensure staff were safe to work with the people they cared for.
Safe medicine practices were followed. People told us they were reminded to take their medicines on time where needed and staff observed this had been done.
People told us they were supported by competent and knowledgeable staff who had received appropriate training for their role.
People were involved in the initial assessment of needs to ensure the service could fully support them.
Consent to care and treatment was sought and documented before care began.
People were encouraged to make their own choices in relation to their care and to remain as independent as possible.
People were supported to attend health appointments and the service worked closely with professionals to ensure people’s health needs were met.
People received support with light meal preparation.
People said the care staff were kind and to them and respected their privacy and dignity.
People’s religious needs equality and diversity was respected.
Care plans contained people’s preferences, communication needs, likes and dislikes.
People told us they were always involved in decision making and the progress of their care.
People gave positive feedback about the management of the service and the service they received.
People and their relatives knew how to make complaints about the service and these were responded to and resolved in a timely manner.
We made one recommendation about the management of equipment and recording safety checks.
Rating at last inspection:
At the last inspection the service was rated Requires Improvement (published 3 May 2018).
Why we inspected:
This was a planned comprehensive inspection based on CQC's scheduling process to check the safety and quality of care people received.
Follow up:
We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk