Walfinch Hampstead & Camden

Walfinch Hampstead & Camden is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides support to people of different abilities. At the time of inspection, the service provided care to eight people, four of whom received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspect the service received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service:

Feedback indicated that people and relatives were satisfied with the care and services provided. They spoke positively about the agency.

Medicines were not always being managed safely by the provider and we found a breach of regulation in respect of this.

People were protected from abuse. Staff had received training on how to safeguard people and were aware of the procedure to follow if they suspected that people were subject to abuse.

People's care needs were risk assessed and care plans provided staff with the information to manage the identified risk.

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.

The provider had taken measures to prevent and control the spread of COVID -19 and other infections.

The provider had a complaints policy and procedure in place. The management team were open and transparent throughout the inspection and responded to any requests positively.

Management monitored aspects of the quality of the services through regular audits and checks. However, the provider's quality systems were not sufficiently robust to identify the concerns we highlighted with the management of medicines.

Staff told us they felt trained and supported. They were confident that management would address any concerns around their personal development and the safety of people who use 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 and update

The service was registered with us on 28 November 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned comprehensive inspection to review the key questions, Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led and rate this service.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to safe care and treatment at this inspection.

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.