Background to this inspection
Updated
31 December 2022
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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.
Inspection team
This inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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.
Registered Manager
This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.
At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.
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 to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with one person who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including the registered manager, the commercial manager, the office manager, two care co-ordinators and three care workers. We contacted two health and social care professionals who worked in partnership with the service. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment.
Updated
31 December 2022
About the service
My Homecare Bexley and Greenwich is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 33 people with a variety of health needs and some people living with dementia. 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
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
At the time of the inspection, the location did not care for or support anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support: People were happy with the care and support they received. Continuity of care was promoted as people were supported by a regular team of staff who knew them well. The provider communicated well with people and staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support when required. 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.
Right Care: People's needs and preferences were assessed prior to receiving the service. People and those important to them were involved in planning their care. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. People were supported by a kind and compassionate staff team and had their privacy and dignity respected. There were enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe. Risk assessments identified and reduced any risks to people and staff.
Right Culture: Feedback from people and their relatives about the way the service was managed was positive and staff told us they were well supported. Effective systems had been in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service and the provider was committed to ongoing improvement in the future. Staff prepared food and drink to meet people's dietary needs and preferences. The provider ensured staff were recruited safely. Any complaints were responded to promptly with actions followed up in a timely way
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 last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 13 July 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to staff recruitment and training. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, effective, responsive and well-led only. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern.
For the key question of caring which was not inspected, we used the rating awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.