Archived: Barking and Dagenham Branch

Barking and Dagenham Branch is an extra care service that provides personal care to 63 people across four sites. People using the service lived in flats across Barking and Dagenham.

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

People’s medicines were managed safely. Risks associated with people’s care and support had been assessed and there was guidance in place to keep them safe. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Effective recruitment practices were followed to help ensure all staff were fit, able and qualified to do their jobs. There were systems in place for the monitoring and prevention of infection.

There was an open and inclusive culture; Staff, people, relatives and other external professionals were encouraged to provide feedback to help improve the service. The provider had an effective quality assurance system in place to monitor the quality of the service and the support it provided to people. There were clear lines of responsibility and accountability within the management structure.

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 last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 6 November 2019) and there were breaches of regulation. 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 an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 25 September 2019 and 10 October 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found on 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 Barking and Dagenham Branch 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.

Barking and Dagenham Branch is an extra care service that provides personal care to 95 people across four sites. People using the service lived in flats across Barking and Dagenham.

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

People’s medicines were always not managed safely because there were instances where prescribed medicines had been administered but not signed for or not given but signed for. This meant that procedures for administration of medicines were not being followed which put people at risk. The provider had a range of audit and quality assurance procedures. However, we noted audits regarding management of medicines were not robust and had not identified the issues we found.

People told us they felt safe using the service. The provider had safeguarding policies and procedures in relation to safeguarding people. There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs and recruitment processes were safe. There was guidance for staff on how to manage risks to people and how to keep them safe. People were protected from the risks associated with the spread of infection.

Staff received training, supervision and support to give them the necessary skills and knowledge to help them care and support people effectively. 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 did support this practice. People maintained good physical and mental health because the staff team worked closely with other health and social care professionals. People were supported to eat and drink sufficient amounts to meet their needs.

People were respected by staff. Care and support were delivered in such a way as to maintain their privacy and dignity. Staff demonstrated a good knowledge about the people they were supporting. People were listened to and their views respected when planning their care. They were given information to make decisions about their care and support. The importance of confidentiality was understood and respected by staff. People were encouraged to remain as independent as possible.

People’s care was individualised and reflected their routines, preferences and wishes. People’s health and care needs were assessed on a regular basis. People made decisions and choices about their life and were supported to maintain relationships with friends and relatives. The provider took account of complaints and comments to improve the service. Informal concerns raised by people were addressed through discussion with staff on a day to day basis.

People told us they found the staff and management approachable. The management team worked closely with other external organisations to ensure people needs were met.

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 31 October 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the registration date of the service.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to medicine management and how medicine audits were carried out.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.