Thames Care

Updated 18 April 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This was a comprehensive inspection which took place on 13 March 2018 and 14 March 2018, it was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service, we therefore needed to be sure that someone would be available in the office to assist with the inspection.

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors. During the inspection we spent time at the services’ office and visited two people in their own homes with their agreement.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service which included previous inspection reports and notifications. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law. We contacted the local authority safeguarding team. We also requested feedback from commissioners and community professionals. We received six responses.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During and after the inspection we spoke to seven people who use the service and also spoke to four relatives of people who use the service. We spoke to eight members of staff including carers, office manager, training manager, field worker and the registered manager. We looked at nine people’s care plans and associated documents, including medicines records. We checked six staff recruitment files, including the most recently recruited staff. We also looked at staff training records, service improvement and quality assurance audits, compliments/complaints and accidents/incident records.

Updated 18 April 2018

This inspection took place on 13 and 14 March 2018 and was announced. Thames Care is a Domiciliary Care Agency, it provides personal care to people with a variety of needs living in their own homes. At the time of inspection the service was delivering personal care to fifty-two people living in their own homes.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At our last inspection we rated the service Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

People told us they felt safe. Staff received appropriate training in safeguarding and understood their responsibilities in relation to protecting people. The service had systems in place to notify the relevant authorities in the event of a safeguarding concern.

People had their needs assessed and received appropriate person centred care that was individualised to their specific needs. Staff were aware of their responsibilities to ensure people's rights were promoted. People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

People were supported by staff who were knowledgeable about their needs and provided support with compassion and kindness. People received high quality care that was personalised and met their needs effectively. People were treated with respect and their privacy and dignity were promoted.

Staff felt the management was very supportive and they had good communication. The service had quality assurance systems in place to monitor the running of the service and improve the quality of the service being delivered

We have made a recommendation that the provider review people’s communication needs in line with the Accessible Information Standard (AIS)

Further information is in the detailed findings below