Everycare Hillingdon

Everycare Hillingdon is a domiciliary care service providing personal care and support to people living in their own homes. All the people receiving support were funding their own care. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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. At the time of the inspection the service provided support for 26 adults and older people of which 19 people received support with personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Incidents and accidents were recorded and investigated but lessons which could be learned to reduce future risk were not always identified and recorded. We have made a recommendation about the identification of lessons learned following incidents and accident.

Complaints were investigated and responded to, but reviews were not always carried out to identify if any actions could be taken to reduce the risk of reoccurrence. We have made a recommendation about the identification of actions to be taken to reduce risks following a complaint.

People felt they were safe when they received care in their home. Relatives also felt their family member was safe when supported by staff. The provider had a robust recruitment process. Medicines were managed in a safe manner and people received their medicines as prescribed. Infection control procedures were followed by staff.

Staff received appropriate training so they could meet people’s care and support needs. 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 this practice. People’s care and support needs were assessed and reviewed regularly.

People felt the staff were kind, caring and respected their dignity and privacy. Care plans identified people’s cultural and religious preferences. People’s care was provided in a person-centred manner with care plans identifying their support need and how they wanted their care provided. People’s communication support needs were identified.

The provider had a range of quality assurance processes in place to monitor the quality of the care being provided. The provider worked in partnership with other organisations.

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 good (published 28 October 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

The service was last inspected on 5 October 2015 when we found one breach of Regulations in relation to the need for consent. The provider sent us an action plan telling us about improvements they planned to make. At this inspection, we found that the provider had made the necessary improvements.

Everycare Hillingdon provides a range of services to people in their own home including personal care and companionship. Most of the people who used the service were older people, some of whom were living with dementia. At the time of our inspection 47 people were receiving a service in their own homes. All the people using the service were funding their own care and support.

The provider’s nominated individual was also the registered manager. 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.

Feedback from people was positive. People said they had regular staff visiting which enabled them to build a rapport and get to know them. People reported that staff were usually on time and where they were running late, they would be notified.

The risks to people's wellbeing and safety had been assessed, and there were detailed plans in place for all the risks identified.

There were procedures for safeguarding adults and the staff were aware of these. Staff knew how to respond to any medical emergencies or significant changes in a person's wellbeing.

The service employed enough staff to meet people's needs safely and had contingency plans in place in the event of staff absence. Recruitment checks were in place to obtain information about new staff before they supported people unsupervised.

There were systems in place to ensure that people received their medicines safely and the staff had received training in the management of medicines.

People's needs were assessed by the provider prior to receiving a service and support plans were developed from these assessments. People had taken part in the planning of their care. People we spoke with said that they were happy with the level of care they were receiving from the service.

People’s capacity was assessed prior to receiving a service from Everycare Hillingdon. People signed their care plans and reviews indicating they had consented to their care and support. The registered manager was aware of their responsibilities in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and staff had received training in this.

People's health and nutritional needs had been assessed, recorded and were being monitored.

Care workers received an induction and shadowing period before delivering care and support to people. They received the training and support they needed to care for people.

There was a complaints procedure in place which the provider followed. People felt confident that if they raised a complaint, they would be listened to and their concerns addressed.

There were systems in place to monitor and assess the quality and effectiveness of the service, and the provider ensured that areas for improvement were identified and addressed.

Staff told us that the manager was approachable and supportive and they encouraged an open and transparent culture within the service. People and staff were supported to raise concerns and make suggestions about where improvements could be made.