The Care Quality Commission
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FOREST HOMECARE MID & WEST ESSEX

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

The Millars. Hospital Approach, Broomfield, Chelmsford, CM1 7FA (01245) 442071

Provided and run by:
Forest Homecare Limited

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile
Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Forest Homecare Mid & West Essex is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our assessment the service was providing support to 56 people. We began this assessment on 21 March 2024 and visited the service on 25 March 2024. At this assessment we looked at 6 quality statements under Safe, as this was rated requires improvement at our last inspection in October 2021. At this assessment we found improvements had been made and the provider had met the recommendation. As part of the assessment, we reviewed information we had received about the service since the last 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 used all this information to plan and form part of our assessment. We spoke with 9 staff members, this included the head of care manager, HR recruitment officer, compliance officer and 6 care staff. We sought feedback from 10 people who use the service and 10 relatives of people who use the service. We reviewed a range of records. This included people’s care documentation and medicines administration records [MAR’s]. We looked at 5 staff files in relation to recruitment and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality monitoring, staff training and policies and procedures. The registered manager was unavailable at the time of our assessment. The head of care manager was our point of contact during the assessment and shall be referred to as the manager throughout the report.

5 October 2021

During a routine inspection

About the service

Forest Homecare Mid & West Essex is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing support to 126 people. 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. All the people using the service received personal care.

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

People received care and support from a consistent team of care staff. Although people felt safe when staff visited them, they and their relatives, raised concerns about the timings of care call visits and of feeling rushed.

Recruitment procedures were safe. Staff had been recruited following relevant checks being completed.

Risk assessments were in place to manage the potential risks within people’s lives. We have made a recommendation about strengthening information within the care plans in relation to potential risks to people. People received their prescribed medicine by trained staff. Staff had access to appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to help prevent the spread of infection.

Staff received an induction when they first started work at the service. They were trained and competent to fulfil their role and responsibilities. Staff received supervision and observational checks to monitor their performance.

People were supported to maintain good health and access health care professionals. Where required, people were supported with their nutritional needs.

People and their relatives spoke positively about the kind, caring attitude of staff. People were treated with dignity and respect and their independence promoted.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

There were systems in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service provided.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 30 January 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out due to the length of time the provider had been registered with CQC without receiving a formal rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.