The Care Quality Commission

Archived: Mears Care - Harrow

59 Station Road, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 2TY (020) 8424 2229

Provided and run by:
Cera Care Operations Limited

All Inspections

21 January and 4 February 2013

During a routine inspection

People’s diversity, values and human rights were respected. One person told us, “My care worker treats me with dignity and I feel safe with her around.”

The people who we spoke with told us that they were able to express their views about the service they received. Five of the nine people we spoke with said that they were very happy with the service they received. However most people said that the situation had declined recently, with many changes due to care workers leaving. The Registered Manager informed us that the agency was scheduled to close at the end of March 2013, and many care workers had left the service due to the planned closure. One person said, “I am happy with the service, but they are closing down. They are losing staff and over the last few months there has been a string of different care workers.”

Most of the people we spoke with said that their regular care workers were very good, but some people said that there were too many changes. One person said, “I am very happy with the care, I have two main care workers. Usually the agency tells us when they are on holidays or off sick, but sometimes they don’t.”

All the care workers we spoke with told us that they received appropriate support from their managers. One person said, "Mears Care is the best agency I have worked for. There is always someone to talk to about any concerns, and the managers respond very quickly when I raise any concerns about the people I care for."

17 August 2011

During a routine inspection

Most of the people we spoke to said they had the same care workers on a regular basis, which was important to them. Everyone we spoke to said they were happy with their regular care workers and gave us positive feedback about them. Some people said they had had the same care worker for a long time and had developed a good relationship with them.

All the people we spoke to said that the agency arranged a replacement care worker when their regular care worker was away but several people told us that problems often occurred when replacement care workers attended. Some people said they had concerns about the knowledge and experience of the replacement care workers supplied by the agency. People also told us that the agency sometimes gave them little or no notice when a replacement care worker would be attending and that they found this unacceptable.