Caremark Lambeth

Updated 5 January 2023

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 1 inspector and 2 Experts 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.

Service and service type

Caremark Lambeth is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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

We gave the service 48 hours of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the managers would be in their office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 1 December 2022 and ended on 5 December 2022. We visited the provider’s offices on the first day of this inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke in-person with the office manager who was in operational day-to-day charge of the agency and a care coordinator. We also received telephone and/or email feedback from 10 people using the service and 15 relatives in relation to their experiences and views of using this home care agency.

Records we looked at as part of this inspection included, 7 people’s care plans, 10 staff files in relation to their recruitment, training and supervision, and a variety of other documents relating to the overall management and governance of the agency.

After we visited the provider’s offices, we continued to seek clarification from them to validate evidence found. We requested the provider send us additional evidence after our inspection in relation to the training staff received and how their scheduled call visits were coordinated.

Updated 5 January 2023

About the service

Caremark Lambeth is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to older people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection 50 people were receiving personal care at home from this provider. The Care Quality Commission (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

Most people using the service and their relatives told us the service had begun to improve during the last 12 months since our last inspection and the appointment of a new care manager who was now in operational day-to-day charge of the service. Whilst the relatively new manager is improving the service people receive and taking it in the right direction they acknowledge this remains a work in progress.

At our last inspection we found the provider had failed to always ensure people were not placed at risk of harm. This was because of the way they recruited and supported staff, assessed and managed identified risks people might face, maintained medicine’s records and operated their established governance systems.

At this inspection we saw enough improvement had been made by the provider in relation to the way they now recruited and supported staff, assessed and managed identified risks people might face, maintained medicine’s records and operated their established governance systems.

People were kept safe and protected against the risk of avoidable harm and abuse. People received consistently good-quality and safe personal care from the same group of staff who were familiar with their needs and preferences. Staff followed current best practice guidelines regarding the prevention and control of infection, including those associated with COVID-19. People continued to receive their prescribed medicines as and when they should.

People received an effective service. People were cared for and supported by staff who were suitably trained. Assessments of people's support needs and wishes were carried out before they started receiving any support from the provider.

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 supported people to have choices. Where staff were responsible for preparing people's meals and/or assisting them to eat and drink, people were supported to access food and drink that met their dietary needs and wishes. People were supported to stay healthy and well, and to access relevant community health and social care services as and when required.

The service was well-led. People were complimentary about the way the managers and the office-based staff now ran the service, and how accessible and approachable they all were. The provider promoted an open and inclusive culture which sought the views of people, their relatives and staff. The provider worked in close partnership with other health and social care professionals and agencies to plan and deliver people's packages of care at home.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 25 January 2022) and there were breaches 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

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 2, 9 and 16 December 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

We undertook this focused inspection to check that had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe, effective and well-led which contain those requirements.

For both 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. Although, the key question safe, which has improved a bit but not enough to be rated good, the provider will therefore still need to demonstrate they can continue to move in the right direction and consistently keep people safe over a more sustained period of time.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Caremark Lambeth 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. If we receive any concerning information, we may inspect sooner.