Vincentian Care Plus

Updated 5 February 2019

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.

We inspected this service as it was six months since it was rated ‘inadequate’ for a second time in one domain and remained in ‘special measures’.

This comprehensive inspection took place on 21 December 2018 and 3 and 4 January 2019. The first day of the inspection was unannounced. We let the registered manager know we would be returning to complete our visit.

Before this inspection took place, we looked at information we held about the service including the provider’s improvement action plan, registration information and previous inspection reports. We also looked at statutory notifications received from the provider and other agencies. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We reviewed information about any concerns and/or complaints received from the provider, members of the public and external agencies.

On this occasion we did not ask the provider to send us a provider information return (PIR). This is information we ask providers to send us at least once annually to give us some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. However, we offered the provider the opportunity to share information with us that they felt was relevant, during and following the inspection process.

One adult social care inspector visited the provider's office location on 21 December 2018 and 3 and 4 January 2019. Over the course of the inspection, we spoke with the registered manager, a field care supervisor, an HR manager, a finance administrator and five members of care staff.

We looked at nine records relating to staff recruitment, training and supervision. We reviewed auditing systems and service quality monitoring data. We looked at nine people's care records and risk assessments. We reviewed a sample of medicines administration records and daily notes where these were available. We also read policies and procedures relating to the service and looked at other relevant information about how the service is managed.

Following the inspection, two experts by experience spoke with 22 people using the service and three relatives by telephone. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. We also contacted three local authority representatives to hear their views about the service and the way it is managed.

Updated 5 February 2019

This inspection took place on 21 December 2018 and 3 and 4 January 2019. The first day of the inspection was unannounced. We informed the registered manager that we would be returning on subsequent days to complete our inspection.

Vincentian Care Plus is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people living in their own homes in the Westminster area of London. At the time of our inspection there were 117 people using the service of which 100 were receiving support with personal care tasks. Whilst we have taken into account any wider social care and support provided to people in their homes and in the community, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out this inspection only in relation to the regulated activity of 'personal care'.

At our previous inspection of Vincentian Care Plus on 8, 9 and 14 May 2018 we identified continued breaches of the regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and governance. We found further breaches of the regulations in regard to safeguarding, staff training and failure to adequately display CQC ratings. The service remained in special measures because we rated the service ‘inadequate’ in the Well-led domain. We issued a warning notice in relation to poor service governance and rated the service ‘requires improvement’ overall. You can read the report from our previous inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Vincentian Care Plus on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Following the previous inspection, we asked the registered provider to send us an action plan setting out how they intended to improve the quality of the service and meet legal requirements. We received the provider’s plan of action on 29 June 2018 stating that improvements would be achieved by the end of July 2018.

At this inspection we found the registered provider had made significant improvements to how the service was managed and how care and support were delivered.

A registered manager was in post at the service. 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 told us they felt safe and were supported by kind and caring staff.

Where possible, people were involved in decisions about their care. Where appropriate, relatives and healthcare professionals contributed to the care planning process.

Staff supported people to make their own decisions and sought consent before delivering care and support.

The service was complying with the Accessible Information Standard (AIS). The AIS applies to people using the service who have information and communication needs relating to a disability, impairment or sensory loss.

Risks in relation to people’s safety were addressed and reviewed through the implementation of a robust risk assessment process.

People's medicines were managed safely. Staff completed medicines administration records and these were returned to the office for auditing purposes.

Staff supported people to attend healthcare appointments as required and liaised with people’s relatives, GPs and other healthcare professionals to ensure people’s needs were met appropriately.

Staff were following correct infection control procedures and had access to disposable gloves and aprons.

People were supported to eat and drink where this formed part of an agreed package of care.

Staff told us they would speak to a manager, health and social care representatives and CQC if they had concerns about a person’s health, safety or welfare.

Recruitment practices ensured the right staff were recruited to support people to stay safe. There were enough staff deployed to meet people’s assessed needs.

The provider had systems in place to ensure people being supported with shopping tasks were protected against financial abuse.

People and their relatives felt able to raise concerns and were provided with information about the provider’s complaints procedures.

Quality assurance procedures were effective. The registered manager and her team had a good oversight of the service and were committed to continuous service improvement in order to achieve good outcomes for people using the service and their relatives.

We made one recommendation in relation to communication policies and procedures.

This service has been in Special Measures. Services that are in Special Measures are kept under review and inspected again within six months. We expect services to make significant improvements within this timeframe. During this inspection the service demonstrated to us that improvements have been made and it is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is now out of Special Measures.