About the serviceCaremark (Havering) provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, the service provided personal care to 16 people. 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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
There was strong leadership and governance of the service that conveyed a positive culture and an ethos of compassionate, personalised care that was tailored for each person. The values of the management team were embedded within the service. We found the management team inspired the staff to deliver a safe and caring service by leading by example, such as by getting to know each and every person, visiting them and providing care, training staff themselves and developing innovative ways to prevent social isolation.
People were highly respected and well treated. They received a service that was exceptionally responsive and well-led. People were treated as individuals and their personal histories, cultures and values were identified to help deliver a personalised service.
People and relatives told us the service they received was of a high standard and staff were safe, reliable, kind and compassionate. They could trust that staff and managers understood their needs and they felt engaged and involved in how the service was run.
The service had a key role in the local community and was passionately involved in supporting people to take part in activities and develop and maintain relationships. They worked in partnership with local charities to support people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the provider initiated a befriending service for elderly people in the local area. The provider has been nominated for a national care award.
People and staff’s equality characteristics were respected. Staff understood the importance of promoting equality, diversity and human rights.
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 supported this practice. People were encouraged to maintain their independence.
There were procedures to protect people from abuse. Risks associated with their needs were assessed and staff understood how to reduce these risks. People were supported with taking their medicines by staff. Audits and spot checks took place to check staff had followed correct medicine procedures. There was a procedure to review and analyse accidents and incidents in the service to prevent reoccurrence. Staff followed safe practices to prevent and control infections.
Staff were recruited safely and their backgrounds checked before they started working for the service. People were supported with maintaining their health and nutrition. The service worked with health care professionals, to ensure their health needs were met. People's communication needs were understood by staff. People knew how to make complaints about the service.
Staff were supported with training and development to ensure their skills and knowledge were up to date. Staff felt well supported by the management team. Quality assurance systems included obtaining feedback from people and relatives.
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 15/08/2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
We carried out this inspection following a routine review of information we held about this service. Our intelligence indicated that that there may be a higher level of risk at this service because the service did not have a registered manager and had not been inspected since registering. We also inspected to help support local systems and increase capacity by creating opportunities for people to be referred to a service that has had an inspection and received a rating.
Follow up
We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.