London Borough of Hounslow Home Care

Updated 18 November 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was conducted by two inspectors. An Expert by Experience also supported the inspection by making telephone calls to people who used the service and their relatives. 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 3 November 2022 and ended on 8 November 2022. We visited the location’s office on 8 November 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We looked at all the information we held about the provider. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 people who used the service and the relatives of 7 other people over the telephone. We spoke with staff at the office who included the registered manager, quality manager, assessors and rehab assistants.

We looked at records used by the provider for managing the service. These included the care records for five people, six staff recruitment records, records of training and staff support, meeting minutes, records of complaints, safeguarding alerts and quality audits. We also reviewed how medicines were managed.

Updated 18 November 2022

About the service

London Borough of Hounslow Home Care is known by people who use, work with and work for the service as the Community Recovery Service Plus (CRS plus). The service is registered to provide personal care and reablement support for a six-week period to people living in their own homes within London Borough of Hounslow. The service is designed to provide people with support to regain independence and skills. The service is part of an integrated team working directly with the local health authority, although the registered provider is the London Borough of Hounslow.

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. The number of people using the service fluctuated due to the nature of the services being offered.

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

People were happy with the care they received. They were pleased with the support they had received to recover and regain independence.

Staff were happy working for the service. They felt well supported and had the training and information they needed to care for people safely.

Risks to people's safety were assessed, monitored and planned for. The staff worked closely with a team of therapists who were part of the recovery team. This meant that risks were constantly reassessed throughout the service and people received the right support when they needed it.

The service did not usually provide support for people to take their medicines and encouraged people to be independent. Where support was offered, this was done safely and systems to oversee this made sure people received their medicines safely and as prescribed.

There were enough staff to care for people and visits took place on time. There were checks on staff suitability, skills and knowledge.

There were systems to record, monitor and learn from complaints, accidents and incidents.

There were effective systems to monitor and improve quality at the service. People using the service and staff found the management team approachable and had the information they needed. People's views and those of staff were sought and acted on.

The service worked in partnership with other professionals to help make sure people's needs were met and they received joined up care.

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 2 April 2020)

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 comprehensive inspection of this service on 10 February 2020. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and good governance.

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 Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. 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 London Borough of Hounslow Home Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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