Home Instead Romford

Updated 4 September 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 completed by an inspector, medicine inspector and an inspection manager. Following the visit to the location office, an Expert by Experience completed telephone calls to people and their relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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 24 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 and available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 15 June 2021 and ended on 18 June 2021. We visited the office location on 15 June 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with three carers and two professionals who regularly visited the service. We looked at three care plans with medicines, medicine administration records (MARs) and medicine policy. We spoke with two people who used the service and seven relatives by telephone about their experience of the care provided.

Updated 4 September 2021

About the service

Home Instead is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received the regulated activity of 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 this inspection, the service was providing personal care to 16 people.

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

People and their relatives benefitted from an exceptionally caring staff team and were supported by a dedicated staff team which meant they experienced continuity of care. People were involved in making decisions about their care and where necessary staff used different ways to communicate with people to help them make decisions and participate in their care.

People told us they felt safe and comfortable in the company of the staff who knew them well and were kind and caring. The feedback from people was overwhelmingly positive and demonstrated that a caring and empowering culture was well embedded across the organisation. Staff knew people they were supporting very well including their preferences, which helped to ensure a high level of personalised care was delivered.

There was an emphasis on respecting people's diverse needs, and those associated with communication. The provider had a system that considered careful matching of the staff with people they supported taking their mutual interests and individual personalities into account to make sure that appropriate and caring relationship can be built between care workers and people using the service

The caring approach was also visible in the way the provider supported their staff. There was an emphasis on recognising their achievements, contribution to the service, motivating them and empowering them. Staff were extremely complimentary about the provider and the feedback received showed the provider's aim to establish an open and inclusive culture that put people first was being achieved.

People were supported by regular staff who were safely recruited and who had the relevant training and qualifications to safely support them. There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs and ensure no care calls were missed.

Staff understood how to protect and safeguard people. Risks to people were assessed and mitigated, which reduced the risk of harm.

People's needs were assessed prior to the commencement of the service. The assessment included people's health, physical and emotional as well as communication needs. 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.

Where people required support with their personal care, health, dietary and with their medicines, this was carried out safely. Staff were provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect people from the risks of cross infection.

Systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service were in place. Staff reported having a positive relationship with the provider and felt communication was effective. Quality monitoring systems allowed for the effective monitoring of the service by the provider.

The service was led by two directors who were also the owners of the company. Staff demonstrated a strong level of engagement, a real sense of pride of working for Home Instead and there was a high level of staff satisfaction. The provider had an ambition to be innovative and put people at the centre of the service delivery. They welcomed any form of external and internal auditing and feedback received was treated as an opportunity to reflect and further improve the

quality of the service for people.

The team at Home Instead has worked well with various local health and social professionals. They were very complimentary about the service and the care the team provided to people.

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 25 November 2019 and this is the first inspection.

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.