16 June 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Thames Homecare Service Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the agency was supporting 190 people. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. In this service, the Care Quality Commission can only inspect the service received by people who get support with personal care. This includes help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people receive such support, we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People and relatives thought the service was good and spoke positively about their care and the staff who supported them.
There were enough staff to meet people's needs and staff supported people safely with their medicines. There were recruitment processes in place to help make sure only suitable staff were employed.
The provider assessed and supported people to manage risks to their safety and well-being. There were procedures in place for preventing and controlling the spread of infection. The service worked in partnership with other professionals to meet people’s needs and help them to access healthcare services.
There were systems in place to continue to develop the service, monitor the quality of the service and recognise when improvements were required. People and staff were asked to give feedback about the service. Staff said they liked working for the provider and found managers were responsive and supportive.
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 19 November 2020) At our last inspection we found breaches of the regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to tell us what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was now meeting these regulations.
Why we inspected
We undertook this focused inspection to check if the provider had made improvements and if they were now meeting the legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Thames Homecare Service Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.