Background to this inspection
Updated
21 February 2019
The inspection:
¿ We carried out our inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. Our inspection checked whether the provider was 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.
Inspection team:
¿ Our inspection was completed by one inspector.
Service and service type:
¿ This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.
¿ 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:
¿ Our inspection was announced.
¿ We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection visit because staff were often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in. Inspection site visit activity started on 29 January 2019 and ended on 06 February 2019. We visited the office location on 29 January 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. Between the 29 January 2019 and 06 February 2019 we contacted people and care workers on the phone.
What we did:
¿ Before the inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included notifications sent to us by the provider and other information we held on our database about the service. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We used this information to plan the inspection.
¿ We spoke with two people who used the service.
¿ We spoke with the nominated individual, registered manager and two care workers.
¿ We reviewed three people's care records, three staff personnel files, audits and other records about the management of the service.
¿ We requested additional evidence to be sent to us after our inspection. This was received and the information was used as part of our inspection.
Updated
21 February 2019
About the service:
¿ London Care Responds is a domiciliary care service providing care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were three people using the service.
People’s experience of using this service:
¿ People told us that care workers were kind and caring. They said they were cared for in a way that promoted their independence.
¿ Care workers were familiar with people’s preferences and support needs and cared for them in line with their care plans.
¿ Care plans were developed after an assessment had been completed and people were asked about how they would like to be supported.
¿ People received good support in relation to their diet and nutrition and did not raise any concerns in relation to how their general health needs were being managed.
¿ There were enough staff employed to meet people’s needs.
¿ New staff completed a thorough induction and were supported during their first few weeks which helped to ensure they were safe and competent to work with people.
¿ There had been no formal complaints received from people or their relatives at the time of the inspection. People were made aware of the complaints procedure through a service user guide that was issued to people when they first started to use the service.
¿ The service was managed well. Feedback from people and staff was that the management team were always available to speak to.
¿ The registered manager was aware of his regulatory responsibilities.
¿ Quality assurance checks such as unannounced spot checks and checks on staff competency were completed.
¿ We have made a recommendation about more robust reference checks when recruiting new staff.
¿ The service was rated as “requires improvement” for the key question Is the service Safe? The service met the characteristics for a rating of “good” for the key questions Is the service Effective?, Is the service Caring?, Is the service Responsive? and Is the service Well-led?
¿ Our overall rating for the service after this inspection was “good”.
¿ More information is in our full report.
Rating at last inspection:
¿ This was the first inspection of the service since it registered with the CQC on 26 February 2018.
Why we inspected:
¿ All services that are registered with CQC are scheduled to have their first inspection within one year of their registration. This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.
Follow up:
¿ We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates as per our re-inspection plan.