Background to this inspection
Updated
12 March 2020
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
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
We reviewed information we held on the service, such as notifications of serious events the provider is required to tell us about. We checked information about the organisation held by Companies House.
We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
Inspection site activity took place on 13 February 2020. We spoke with the registered manager and two directors of the service. We looked at records of care and support for both people who used the service, and records of recruitment, training and supervision for both care workers. We reviewed a range of policies and procedures.
After the inspection
We made calls to two care workers and two relatives of people who used the service with the support of a Bengali interpreter.
Updated
12 March 2020
About the service
Partnership Care London is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting two adults with learning disabilities.
People’s experience of using this service
People told us their family members were treated with respect by staff. Care workers spoke the same language as people and understood their cultural needs. Staff were experienced with working with adults with learning disabilities and used signs, symbols and photographs to help people communicate their needs and make decisions. A relative told us, “[My family member] is happy with them and gets a good service.”
There were appropriate procedures to keep people safe and protected from abuse. The provider assessed risks to people’s wellbeing and had clear guidelines to manage these risks. Staff were recruited safely and knew how to protect people from infection. The service was not supporting people to take medicines but had appropriate procedures to manage medicines safely if necessary.
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. People’s ability to make decisions was assessed and the provider followed the law in involving families in making decisions in people’s best interests. Staff received appropriate training and supervision to do their jobs. The provider assessed people’s health needs and made sure they had the right support to eat and drink.
People had personalised care plans which met their assessed needs and staff recorded how they had followed these. Managers regularly checked whether people’s care needed to change or if families needed additional support. There were suitable arrangements for dealing with complaints if this was needed.
Managers checked with families that they were happy with their care and carried out regular observations of staff to make sure they were delivering care well. There were suitable systems of audit in place to ensure standards were maintained.
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 15 February 2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on when the service registered with us.
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.