Evergreen Care

Updated 7 January 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out one inspector and one 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. They supported the inspection by calling people who use the service and their families for feedback on the care they received.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

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 18 November 2021 and ended on 30 November 2021. We visited the office location on 18 November 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 members of staff including the nominated individual, company director, registered manager, team leaders, administration staff and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment, training and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We received feedback from three professionals who regularly work the service.

Updated 7 January 2022

About the service

Evergreen Care (formerly known as Surecare Barnet) is a domiciliary care provider based in Barnet, North London and provides personal care to 22 adults and older people in their own homes.

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.

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

Safe recruitment processes were now in place to ensure staff were suitable to work with vulnerable people. There were enough staff to provide support to people, with people telling us that staff attended their care visits as scheduled, however improvements were needed to the monitoring of care visits at office level.

We have made a recommendation around complaints and concerns procedures as not all people and relatives told us that the concerns reported had been addressed to their satisfaction.

People said they felt safe with the staff when they received care in their own homes. People told us they were treated kindly and compassionately by the staff.

People's needs were assessed and reviewed to ensure care being delivered was up to date and reflective of their needs. People had care plans and risk assessments that provided detailed and personalised guidance for staff on the support and care that they needed.

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.

Infection prevention and control (IPC) systems were in place to reduce people's risk of infection, including COVID-19.

Staff received training suitable for their roles. Staff said they felt well supported.

Systems were in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. The service worked well in partnership with others to ensure the best 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 2 November 2020) and there were multiple 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 focused inspection of this service on 15 September 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 how staff were safely recruited 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 covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements. We have also inspected Effective and Responsive.

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 Evergreen Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service.