Archived: Ark Home Healthcare Waterloo

Updated 7 January 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This unannounced inspection took place on 8 and 10 November 2016. It was undertaken by one inspector and one 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. The provider was given 48 hours’ advance notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to ensure the registered manager and staff were available. This meant the provider and staff knew we would be visiting the agency’s office before we arrived.

Prior to the inspection we contacted six commissioners and we reviewed the information we held about Ark Home Healthcare - Waterloo including notifications we had received. Notifications are information about important events the provider is required to tell us about by law. We used this information in the planning of the inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with 24 people and 13 five relatives. We spoke with seven staff, the branch manager and regional operations director. We reviewed 12 people’s care records, risk assessments and medicines administration records. We looked at documents relating to staff and management. We reviewed 15 staff files which included pre-employment checks, training records and supervision notes. We read the provider’s quality assurance information and audits. We looked at complaints and compliments from people and their relatives.

Following the inspection we contacted health and social care professionals to gather their views about the service people were receiving.

Updated 7 January 2017

This inspection took place on 8 and 10 November 2016 and was announced.

Ark Home Healthcare - Waterloo is a domiciliary care agency delivering care and support to people in 10 London Boroughs. At the time of the inspection the service was providing support to 199 people.

The service did not have a registered manager at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At this inspection we identified one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This was in relation to insufficient staff being deployed to safely deliver planned care to people. CQC is considering the action we will take.

Some people had experienced missed and late care visits and expressed anxiety that experience may be repeated. Staff were knowledgeable about the provider’s safeguarding procedures, had received safeguarding training and knew what actions to take if they suspected abuse. People’s risks of avoidable harm were reduced because staff undertook risk assessments to identify and mitigate them. People received their medicines in line with the prescriber’s instructions and with the amount of support identified in their assessments.

Staff supporting people were trained and supervised by line managers. People consented to the care staff provided. Staff supported people to meet their nutritional needs and with timely access to healthcare services.

People’s needs were assessed and they were involved in their care plans. However, people did not always receive support at the time of day they wanted. The provider regularly sought feedback from people and their relatives. People lacked confidence in the provider’s complaints procedure.

We have made a recommendation about the management of complaints.

People, relatives and staff expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of communication with office staff during office hours and during on-call periods, reporting that calls were often not answered or returned.

We have recommended that the service seek advice and support for the office based team on telephone calls management and communication with people and staff.

The service did not have a registered manager but the process of registering with CQC had been started at the time of the inspection. The service conducted quality audits and worked in partnership with professionals from health and social care agencies. The service provided staff with mobile phones and used software to gather staff views and provide information updates.