Archived: Look Ahead West London Mental Health Domiciliary Care Service

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 1 April 2014. A breach of legal requirements was found. As a result we undertook a focused inspection on 29 September 2014 to follow up on whether action had been taken to deal with the breach.

You can read a summary of our findings from both inspections below.

Look Ahead West London Mental Health Domiciliary Care Service is a community support service specialising in the support of adults with mental health conditions. It provides support services for people at two purpose-built housing schemes where people have their own flats but share some communal facilities. Both schemes provide 24-hour staffing.

Comprehensive inspection of 1 April 2014

At the time of our inspection, the service was providing 24 people with the prompting and supervision of their personal care when needed. We inspected this aspect of the service. Four of these people were also receiving direct personal care support that was arranged with local domiciliary care services. We did not inspect that aspect of those people’s services because these were not supplied by Look Ahead Care and Support Ltd.

At the time of our inspection the provider did not have a registered manager in post. However, a manager had been appointed who was present during the inspection visit. They demonstrated good leadership of the service, and they were well known to people using the service and staff.

We spoke with 13 people who use the service across its two supported housing schemes during our visit. Overall, people praised the service and the support provided. Comments included, “It’s fantastic”, “It’s very good indeed” and “It’s a good service, they look after you.” Most people told us that nothing needed changing about the service that that they were happy using it. We also received information from a community professional involved in the support services provided to some people. Their feedback complemented the service and included that they would recommend the service to friends and family.

Everyone told us that staff at the schemes were kind, understanding and compassionate. Some people told us this was their first experience of a mental health service where their dignity was consistently respected.

People told us staff had time for them. People were asked for their views about the services provided, which were acted on. There was an effective complaints system in use at the service.

People said that they received the care and support they needed. They were involved in decisions about their own support.

People had access to healthcare services and received ongoing healthcare support. The service worked in cooperation with other agencies and services to make sure people received effective care and support.

People told us they trusted staff and felt safe using the service. There were systems in place to identify, assess and manage risks to the health, safety and welfare of people using the service and others, including for safeguarding people from the risk of abuse.  

However, we could not be assured of safe practice through the staffing arrangements at the service. Recruitment and selection processes did not take all reasonable precautions to minimise the risk of unsuitable staff being employed at the service, because staff began working with people before appropriate written references from previous employments were acquired.

The problem we found breached a health and social care regulation. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.

Focused inspection of 29 September 2014 

After our inspection of 1 April 2014 the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to staff recruitment and selection processes.

We undertook a focused inspection to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. We found that references had been obtained from the previous employers for staff working at the service. Recruitment procedures had been updated to include the fact that appropriate references must be obtained prior to new staff commencing work at the service.

Look Ahead West London Mental Health Domiciliary Care Service is a community support service specialising in the support of adults with mental health conditions. It provides support services for people at two purpose-built housing schemes where people have their own flats but share some communal facilities. Both schemes provide 24-hour staffing.

At the time of our inspection, the service was providing 24 people with the prompting and supervision of their personal care when needed. We inspected this aspect of the service. Four of these people were also receiving direct personal care support that was arranged with local domiciliary care services. We did not inspect that aspect of those people’s services because these were not supplied by Look Ahead Care and Support Ltd.

At the time of our inspection the provider did not have a registered manager in post. However, a manager had been appointed who was present during the inspection visit. They demonstrated good leadership of the service, and they were well known to people using the service and staff.

We spoke with 13 people who use the service across its two supported housing schemes during our visit. Overall, people praised the service and the support provided. Comments included, “It’s fantastic”, “It’s very good indeed” and “It’s a good service, they look after you.” Most people told us that nothing needed changing about the service that that they were happy using it. We also received information from a community professional involved in the support services provided to some people. Their feedback complemented the service and included that they would recommend the service to friends and family.

Everyone told us that staff at the schemes were kind, understanding and compassionate. Some people told us this was their first experience of a mental health service where their dignity was consistently respected.

People told us staff had time for them. People were asked for their views about the services provided, which were acted on. There was an effective complaints system in use at the service.

People said that they received the care and support they needed. They were involved in decisions about their own support.

People had access to healthcare services and received ongoing healthcare support. The service worked in cooperation with other agencies and services to make sure people received effective care and support.

People told us they trusted staff and felt safe using the service. There were systems in place to identify, assess and manage risks to the health, safety and welfare of people using the service and others, including for safeguarding people from the risk of abuse.  

However, we could not be assured of safe practice through the staffing arrangements at the service. Recruitment and selection processes did not take all reasonable precautions to minimise the risk of unsuitable staff being employed at the service, because staff began working with people before appropriate written references from previous employments were acquired.

The problem we found breached a health and social care regulation. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.