Supporting Care

Updated 1 October 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

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

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

Registered manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 30 August 2022 and ended on 31 August 2022. We visited the location’s office/service on 30 August 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we already held about the service. This included notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with the registered manager who was the director of the service, the care coordinator and four care staff. We reviewed documents and records that related to people’s care and the management of the service.

We reviewed five care plans, which included risk assessments. We looked at other documents such as medicine management and infection control. We spoke with one relative and one person for their feedback about the service by telephone.

Updated 1 October 2022

About the service

Supporting Care is a domiciliary care agency located in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, six people were receiving support with 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

The provider had safeguarding and whistleblowing policies in place to help staff report incidents of abuse. There was a robust staff recruitment system for checking staff were safe to work with people. The provider ensured staff had the necessary skills and training to provide care to people in their own homes.

Risks assessments ensured potential risks to people were identified and guidance put in place so that staff knew how to keep people safe. There were procedures for reporting incidents and accidents to review and learn lessons. Staff followed infection control procedures and people were protected from the risk of infections such as COVID-19. Where needed, staff supported people with medicines, accessing health care and preparing meals.

Assessments of people’s needs were completed before they started using the service. Staff told us they were supported by the registered manager and received supervision to discuss their performance. People and relatives told us staff were respectful and caring and supported them to maintain their independence. Staff respected people's privacy and people's needs were met in relation to equality and diversity issues.

Care plans were person-centred, and people and relatives were involved in developing and reviewing them. Care plans also detailed people's preferences of support. People's communication needs were included in their care plans. Staff understood equality and diversity and ensured people's privacy and dignity was respected.

The provider had a complaints policy and used auditing systems to learn lessons and help continuously improve the quality of the service. 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. People's consent was sought when care was provided.

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 14 June 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted by a review of information we held about the service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.