London

Updated 30 April 2022

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was conducted by one inspector. We were supported by an Expert by Experience who made telephone calls to people using the service and their relatives. 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 service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because this was an inspection using remote technology and we required the provider to send us documents to view.

Inspection activity started on 6 April 2022 with phone calls to people using the service and ended on 19 April 2022, when we viewed the provider's records and had a meeting with the management team.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We looked at all the information we held about the provider which included the last inspection report and their action plan following this.

During the inspection

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as phone calls to enable us to engage with people using the service, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

We looked at the care records, including information about support with medicines for nine people. We also viewed records of staff recruitment, training and support for six staff, records of medicines competency assessments for a further 12 staff and information about training and supervision. We also looked at some of the provider's policies and procedures, information about complaints and meeting minutes.

We spoke with five people who used the service and the relatives of 11 other people.

Updated 30 April 2022

About the service

London is the only branch of The Social Care Ltd, a domiciliary care agency located in the London Borough of Ealing. They provide personal care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, there were 99 people using the service. The agency cared mostly for older people, adults with disabilities and people with mental health needs.

Everyone using the service at the time of our inspection received support with personal care. This is not always the case for care agencies. 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.

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

People were happy with the service. They felt well supported and had the same regular care workers. Care workers arrived on time.

People and their relatives felt care workers had the right skills to provide safe care.

Medicines were managed in a safe way.

The risks to people's safety and wellbeing had been assessed, were monitored and planned for.

The provider responded appropriately to complaints, incidents and accidents. They had effective systems for monitoring and improving the quality of the service.

There was a suitable management structure in place. There were regular meetings and information sharing for staff to make sure they were aware of their roles and responsibilities.

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 rating at the last inspection was requires improvement (published 15 July 2021). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out our last inspection of this service on 29 June 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for London on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.

Follow up

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