LifeCome Care, London

Updated 11 February 2023

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was conducted by one inspector and one Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The Expert by Experience made calls to people or their relatives.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

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

Notice of inspection

The inspection took place on 31 January 2023 and was announced. This is because the provider is a domiciliary care provider and we wanted to be sure that someone would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 31 January 2023 and ended on 02 February 2023. We visited the provider’s office on 31 January 2023.

What we did before the inspection

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. 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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke in person with the registered manager, 4 care workers and 5 people using the service and 3 relatives. We also reviewed a range of records. They included 8 people’s care plans and risk records and 3 staff files in relation to recruitment, training and supervision. We also checked a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and quality assurance records.

Updated 11 February 2023

About the service

LifeCome Care, London is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to older people in their own homes, mainly in the London Borough of Lambeth. At the time of the inspection, there were 60 people using the service who were receiving help with personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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 and their relatives told us that LifeCome Care, London was a good service that was managed well. They told us they felt safe in the presence of care workers.

The provider had acted on our recommendations from the previous inspection and had introduced an electronic call monitoring system, this had helped to improve care worker visit times. Office staff monitored care worker visit times regularly. There were enough staff employed to meet people’s needs.

People were supported by trained staff who administered their medicines correctly. Staff followed up to date infection control guidelines when supporting people.

The service was well-led. The provider submitted notifications to the CQC as required and was aware of their regulatory responsibilities.

People. Relatives and staff felt comfortable approaching the management team if they had anything to discuss and the provider took action when needed.

There were systems in place to gather feedback, through telephone monitoring and annual surveys. Governance systems effectively assessed and reviewed the quality of care provided.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 20 March 2019). The overall rating for the service remains good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding.

We did not inspect the key questions of effective, caring and responsive. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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

Follow up

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