Background to this inspection
Updated
25 June 2021
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 registered manager, who was also the provider. This means that they are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
Our inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider would be in the office to support us with 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 the information we already held about the service. This included details of its registration, and notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with the registered manager. We reviewed documents and records that related to people’s care and the management of the service. We reviewed four care plans, which included risk assessments and four staff files, which included pre-employment checks. We looked at other documents such as training, medicine and quality monitoring records.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence we found, such as reviewing policies and call logs. We spoke with three relatives of people who used the service, as people were unable to communicate with us due to communication difficulties. We also spoke with two staff and contacted professionals that the service worked with for feedback about the service.
Updated
25 June 2021
About the service
Optimum Care (GL) Limited is a domiciliary care agency and is based in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. The service provides personal care to adults in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received 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.
At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting five people with personal care.
People’s experience of using this service
Robust risk assessments had not been completed to ensure people could receive safe care at all times in relation to people’s health conditions and circumstances.
Staff had been trained in the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and were aware of the principles of the act. Consent had been sought from people to provide care and support. However, assessments to determine people’s capacity to make decisions had not been completed in full. We made a recommendation in this area.
Quality assurance systems were not in place to ensure risk assessments and capacity assessments were accurate to ensure people received safe high-quality care.
Medicines were being managed safely. Systems were in place to ensure staff attended care visits on time. Systems were in place for infection control and to learn lessons following incidents.
Staff felt supported and received regular supervisions. Staff had received training to carry out their role effectively. Care plans were in place to support people with meals according to their preferences and choices. Staff worked in partnership with professionals when people were not well.
Feedback had been sought from people and staff to make improvement to the service.
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 Requires Improvement (published 11 November 2019). We identified two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 relating to risk assessments and good governance. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
The service remains rated Requires Improvement.
Why we inspected
We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to Safe, Effective and Well-Led which contain those requirements.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service remains Requires Improvement. 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 Optimum Care (GL) Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement
We have identified breaches in relation to need for risk assessment and good governance. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full 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.