Here2Care (Dartford)

Updated 16 December 2020

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

Two inspectors carried out this inspection with an Expert 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. This service also provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

The service did not have a manager registered with the CQC. However, a new manager was in process of registering. This means that the provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection site visit took place on 5 November 2020. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 5 November 2020 and was completed on 10 November 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We received positive feedback from the local authority. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with six members of staff including the manager, survey coordinator, client services support manager, care advisor and two care staff. We spoke with 10 people and six relatives on the telephone to gain their views of the quality of the service. We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service including compliments and complaints, electronic call monitoring system audits and spot checks of care staff.

Updated 16 December 2020

About the service

Here2Care (Dartford) is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes in Dartford, Gravesend and surrounding areas. Here2Care (Dartford) also provide support to people living in Extra Care Housing. 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 inspection there were 187 people using the service, of which, 175 people received support with personal care. This included twenty people living in an Extra Care Housing, including older people, people who live with dementia and people with a physical disability.

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

Feedback from people and relatives was positive. People told us they, “Felt safe and had good relationships with the staff that visit them.” One relative told us, “I have had no worries at all during the Covid-19 pandemic that my [relative] has not been safe.” And, “My [relative] is never rushed and the [staff] are all so kind to him.”

People were protected from the risk of abuse, with staff able to recognise the signs and different types and knew what actions to take to keep people safe. Concerns were raised when needed with guidance in place to manage this effectively. People were supported with their medicines as prescribed and staff competency was checked to ensure they knew how to complete this safely. There were adequate numbers of staff to ensure people’s needs were met and the provider had safe recruitment procedures in place. There was clear oversight of accident and incidents, when these had occurred, action was taken to reduce any risk of reoccurrence. Staff ensured risks of infection to people were minimised.

Feedback from staff and people was actively sought and analysed. There was a clear and open culture of learning from past mistakes and concerns.

Quality monitoring systems had improved and where issues were identified they were acted upon. The service is using a new electronic call monitoring system to reduce the risk of any missed or severely delayed care visits. The service worked in partnership with other agencies to provide good outcomes for people.

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 7 February 2020) and there were three 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 inspection of this service on 5 November 2020. At last inspection there were three breaches of regulation in relation to Safe care and treatment (Regulation 12) Staffing (Regulation 18) and Good Governance (Regulation 17) The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when they would improve.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they 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 of Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Here2Care (Dartford) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

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.