Archived: East London Care and Support Limited

Updated 17 December 2016

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 inspection took place on 23 November 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors 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.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we already held about this service. This included details of its registration, previous inspection report and notification the provider had sent us. Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We contacted the local authority with responsibility for commissioning care from the service to seek their views.

During the inspection we spoke with four people who used the service and three relatives. We spoke with seven staff. This included the registered manager, operations manager, administrative accountant, scheduling coordinator, two support workers and a support worker/field supervisor. We looked at eight sets of records relating to people including care plans and risk assessments. We looked at six sets of staff recruitment, training and supervision records. We examined medicine charts, quality assurance and monitoring systems and various policies and procedures.

Updated 17 December 2016

This inspection took place on 23 November 2016 and was announced. At the previous inspection of this service in July 2013 we found they were meeting all of the regulations that we looked at during the inspection.

The service is registered to provide support with personal care to adults and children living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection 55 people were supported with personal care by the service.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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.

The service had appropriate safeguarding procedures in place and staff were knowledgeable about their responsibilities with regard to safeguarding adults. Risk assessments were in place which included information about how to mitigate any risks people faced. There were enough staff working at the service to enable the service to meet people’s assessed needs and not miss appointments. Pre-employment checks were carried out on prospective staff. Medicines were administered in a safe manner.

Staff undertook an induction training programme on commencing work at the service and received on-going training after that. People were able to make choices for themselves where they had the capacity to do so and the service operated within the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Where people were supported with food preparation they were able to choose what they ate and drank. The service worked with other agencies to promote people’s health and wellbeing.

People told us they were treated with respect and that staff were caring. Staff had a good understanding of how to promote people’s privacy, independence and dignity.

Care plans were in place for people which set out their needs and the support they required in a personalised manner about the individual person. The service had a complaints procedure in place and people told us they knew how to make a complaint if needed.

Staff spoke positively of the management at the service and of the working atmosphere. Various quality assurance and monitoring systems were in place, some of which included seeking the views of people that used the service.