We carried out a review of the data available to us about ICare Resource Limited on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about ICare Resource Limited, you can give feedback on this service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The provider made improvements to the service following our last inspection. Medicine's records were available and there were no gaps in them. The provider had monitored and audited aspects of the service to identify and address shortfalls to ensure people received safe care.
Feedback from people, relatives and staff was obtained through various means. The registered manager listened to people and operated an open and transparent service.
People were protected from the risk of harm. The provider had a policy on adult safeguarding and staff knew who to contact if they became aware of a person being abused. People had risk assessments which identified possible risks and how to manage them.
Except in emergency cases, people's needs were assessed by staff before they started using the service. For people referred to the service on an emergency bases, staff received their care plans in advance so they knew how to support them. Care plans were personalised and included people's specific needs such as their religion, culture and communication needs. Staff understood equality and diversity and knew that any discriminatory practices were not tolerated.
Staff supported people who needed help with meals. The meals met people's dietary requirements.
Staff worked with other professionals to support people to have access to social and healthcare services.
Staff felt supported in their roles. They received supervision and training which enabled them to develop their knowledge and skills. Staff recruitment processes were robust ensuring that suitable staff were employed at the service. There were also enough staff to provide care and support people needed.
Staff were kind, compassionate and caring. They treated people with respect and dignity by giving them choice and promoting their independence.
The registered manager was open to ideas from people, relatives, staff and others and was committed to making improvements. There was a complaints procedure in place.
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 support this practice.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 3 August 2018) and there was a breach of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
ICare Resource Limited provides a domiciliary care service for people living in their own homes in the community. The service offers support to people who require help with day to day care including personal care and meal preparation. At the time of our inspection there were 77 people using the service who were receiving personal care, the majority of whom were placed by Redbridge social services.
The service is required to have a registered manager and there was one in post who was also a director of the company. 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.
We identified some gaps in recording and discrepancies between medicine administration instructions and medicine administration records that had not been picked up and investigated. Auditing and monitoring processes had not been robust and therefore shortfalls had not always been identified and addressed. Action was being taken to improve these processes and work was ongoing on this.
People and relatives said people were being cared for safely by the care workers. Policies and procedures were in place for safeguarding people from the risk of abuse and the registered manager knew the processes to follow to report any concerns. Risk assessments for people’s home environment and individual risks had been carried out and plans put in place to minimise them. Staff said they were provided with personal protective equipment for infection control and understood infection control procedures.
Staff received the training to provide them with the knowledge and skills to care for people effectively. Staff provided assistance with simple meal preparation where needed. Staff said they would report any concerns about a person’s health, including contacting the emergency services if necessary.
If there were concerns that people could not make decisions for themselves then mental capacity and best interests assessments were conducted. Staff respected people’s right to make decisions about their care and treatment and knew to report any deterioration in a person’s ability to do so.
People and relatives said staff were kind and caring, treating people with dignity and respect. People felt they were encouraged and supported to maintain as much independence as they could. Staff encouraged people to make choices about their own care and these choices were respected.
Care records provided staff with information about the care and support each person required. The complaints procedure was made available to people and people and relatives said they would raise any issues they might have so they could be addressed. At the time of our inspection no-one was receiving end of life care.
People and their relatives said it was easy to contact the registered manager and senior staff, who responded promptly. Staff said the registered manager and office staff were approachable and supportive. Policies and procedures were in place and the registered manager was a member of several organisations which they used to keep up to date with current legislation and good practice.
We found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This was in relation to safe care and treatment. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.