The Care Quality Commission
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Archived: Sevacare - Lewisham

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

Unit 22 Cannon Wharf Business Centre, 35 Evelyn Street, Surrey Quays, London, SE8 5RT (020) 7394 4379

Provided and run by:
Sevacare (UK) Limited

Important: This service is now registered at a different address - see new profile

All Inspections

27 August and 3 September 2015

During a routine inspection

Sevacare (UK) Limited is a national provider of care and support services to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, Sevacare Lewisham provided care to 146 people who lived in the London boroughs of Lewisham, Lambeth, Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley.

The service was last inspected on 12 and 21 January 2015. At that inspection we found five breaches of regulations which related to person centred care, safe care and treatment, staffing, good governance and notification of incidents to CQC.

We asked for improvements to be made in these areas. The provider sent us an improvement plan. You can read the report of this inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for this service on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

At this inspection, we found that the provider had taken action to address the breaches of regulations found. People were receiving visits on time and so their care needs were met as arranged. Care workers received support, training and information to enable them to care properly for people. Management systems to check the quality of care people received had improved. The CQC was informed about incidents as required by regulation.

The service has a registered manager. 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.

People felt safe and trusted their care workers who were trained and knowledgeable about what to do if they were concerned someone was being harmed.

People received care from staff that had information about their health conditions and knew the actions to take to help them. When appropriate there was contact between care staff and health professionals to ensure important information was passed on to meet people’s health needs.

There were policies and procedures in place about the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and care workers had been trained in its principles. They asked people for consent before providing care.

People found staff caring and helpful. Care workers understood the issues of privacy and dignity and put them into practice when working with people.

People’s views were taken into account when planning care and matching them with care workers who could meet their diverse needs. However their preferences and needs were not always considered in relation to communication with them.

Management systems had improved and there was better monitoring of the quality of care provided to people.

People’s messages and requests were not always responded to by office based staff. At this inspection there were two breaches of regulation. Medicines administration records contained errors which increased the risk that people may not receive their medicines as prescribed. Communication with people did not take into account their preferences and needs.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

12 & 21 January 2015

During a routine inspection

Sevacare (UK) Limited is a national provider of care and support services to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, Sevacare Lewisham provided care to 145 people who lived in their own homes in the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley.

This inspection of Sevacare - Lewisham took place on 12 and 21 January 2015 and was unannounced. The service was last inspected on 6 November 2013 and they met all the regulations checked at that time.

The service had a registered manager. 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 found there were a number of breaches of legal requirements. There were times when people did not receive care and this put their health and welfare at risk. For instance sometimes people did not receive help to go to or rise from bed and sometimes they did not receive their medicines because visits had been missed.

At other times staff did not have appropriate information, guidance and support to provide care which adequately met the person’s needs. This put them at risk of receiving inappropriate care. For example staff did not have adequate guidance about assisting with meals to meet the person’s nutritional needs. Although some risks were considered, the risks associated with pressure care were not properly recorded and attended to.

The CQC was not always informed about issues the provider is required to tell us about.

Although people said they trusted and liked their regular care workers at times they were sent alternative staff and they were not told who was coming to assist them. While staff were all trained and familiar with the principles of care they were not familiar with people’s particular needs.

People had the opportunity to raise concerns and care workers were replaced if people raised anxieties about them.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

6 November 2013

During a routine inspection

At the time of our visit services were provided to 174 people living in four London boroughs. We spoke with 15 people who used the service. People we spoke with felt their dignity was protected and the attitude of support staff was respectful. One person said that support staff were 'always friendly and polite' and a relative commented 'all the carers that come seem very nice'. One person felt that staff did not adequately understand their culture and felt this affected their ability to fully meet their needs. The majority of people told us they were satisfied with the care they received. A carer told us they were 'very happy' with the service their relative received.

Staff we spoke with were aware of the procedure to follow in the event of concerns about abuse and they felt able to report it. The provider had taken the correct action in response to safeguarding concerns.

There were effective recruitment processes in place and appropriate checks were undertaken before staff began work.

We spoke with six care staff employed by the service. They said they were supported by the organisation and received training which helped them to do their jobs.

The provider had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received. We had contact with professionals who commissioned services from Sevacare Lewisham and were told by one that they found them very responsive to any concerns that had been raised.

26 February 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke with ten people using the service. We spoke with ten people using the service. They spoke of being well cared for by their care workers. One person told us, "It's alright, they're very good. I have the same worker - she's very nice. Another one comes when she's away, they are lovely." Another person told us, "They are doing a very good job."

However a few people raised concerns about timekeeping, having frequent changes of care workers and a lack of organisation by the office staff to coordinate changes to care calls.

People we spoke with who received support with taking their medicines told us this support was provided satisfactorily. We found that appropriate arrangements were in place in relation to the management of medicines.

There were effective recruitment and selection processes in place, and appropriate checks were undertaken before staff began work

There were suitable arrangements in place for dealing with complaints. Most people we spoke with were satisfied with the service they received and had not made recent complaints about the service. One person told us, " I haven't had to make a complaint or had anything go wrong - I've been very lucky. They are marvellous".

1 December 2011

During a routine inspection

People who used the service and their relatives told us in telephone interviews on 2 December 2011 that Sevacare Lewisham provided them with a flexible and reliable service on the whole. They said that the care and support they received met their needs well.

People were able to influence how their care was provided, for example by requesting a care worker that they got on with particularly well, or by asking care workers to complete tasks in a particular way, such as washing up. They told us that staff did their jobs well and that they were helpful.

People told us that they received consistency of care by having a regular care worker, although some said that it had taken a while for this to be established.

People were confident that if they had any problems they could report them to the care workers' supervisors and that their concerns would be dealt with. Some people told us that the agency had contacted them to check that everything was running smoothly.