We carried out a review of the data available to us about E&K Care Limited on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about E&K Care Limited, you can give feedback on this service.
E&K Care Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to four people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. An additional person was using the service but was not receiving personal care. 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 told us they were safe and had no concerns about their safety. Suitable arrangements were in place to protect people from abuse and avoidable harm. Staff understood how to raise concerns and knew what to do to safeguard people. Risks to people’s safety and wellbeing were assessed, recorded and followed by staff. Suitable arrangements were in place to ensure people received their medication as they should. Enough numbers of staff were available to support people safely. Staff recruitment and selection practices and procedures were robust. People were protected by the prevention and control of infection. Findings from this inspection showed lessons had been learned and improvements made since August 2019.
Suitable arrangements were in place to ensure staff were trained and newly appointed staff received an induction. Staff felt valued and supported by the provider and registered manager. People were supported with their dietary requirement needs. The service ensured they worked collaboratively with others and people were supported to access healthcare services as needed. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.
People told us they were treated with care, kindness, respect and dignity. People and their relatives were consistently encouraging about staffs caring attitude, confirming there were positive interactions with staff. People’s care and support needs were clearly documented, and staff had a good understanding and knowledge of these and the care to be delivered.
People told us the service was well managed. Quality assurance arrangements enabled the provider and registered manager to monitor the quality of the service provided and staff performance.
Rating at last inspection (and update)
The last rating for this service was Inadequate (published September 2019).
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.
This service has been in Special Measures since September 2019. During this inspection the provider demonstrated improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up:
We will continue to monitor information and intelligence we receive about the service to ensure good quality is provided to people.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
E&K Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats within the localities of Benfleet, Basildon, Billericay and Brentwood.
At the time of the inspection the domiciliary care service was providing personal care for eight people. Not everyone who used the service received personal care and the domiciliary care service was supporting three people by providing a ‘sit-in’ service, meal preparation and prompting of medication. 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.
Peoples experience of using this service and what we found
Though there were some areas of safe practice, people were not safe. The provider’s arrangements for safeguarding people from abuse and upholding their human rights was poor. Information relating to people’s individual risks was not always recorded or up-to-date and suitable arrangements were not in place to ensure the proper and safe use of medicines. People were not always informed if staff were running late and who may be visiting or caring for them. Required recruitment checks on staff were not robust to ensure staff were suitable. Lessons were not learned and improvements were not made when things went wrong. People were protected by the prevention and control of infection.
People were not assessed prior to the service being agreed and commenced. The provider did not make sure staff employed at the service received mandatory training at the earliest opportunity to ensure staff could deliver effective care and support to people using the service. Robust induction arrangements for staff were not in place. Staff supported people with the provision of meals, snacks, and drinks and people received ongoing healthcare support to ensure positive outcomes. 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.
Though people using the service and their relatives said staff were kind, our findings did not suggest a consistent caring service or a service that was always respectful and treated people with dignity. People and their relatives stated they had little input and involvement in the development of the care plan. Not all people using the service had a care plan in place and information recorded was not always accurate. People’s end of life care needs were not recorded detailing how they were to be cared for and supported. People and those acting on their behalf knew how to raise a concern or complaint.
The leadership, management and governance arrangements did not provide assurance that the service was well-led, that people were safe and their care and support needs could be met. Quality assurance and governance arrangements at the service were not reliable or effective in identifying shortfalls in the service. There was a lack of understanding of the risks and issues and the potential impact on people using the service. The provider was not familiar with regulatory requirements.
The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within six months to check for significant improvements.
If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe. And there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions of their registration.
For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.
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 21 October 2018 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to safeguarding concerns. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We have found evidence that the provider needs to make significant improvements to achieve compliance.
You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
Follow up
Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.
We will meet with the provider and request an action plan to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider, Local Authority and CCG to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.