London Care (Ensham House)

Updated 13 July 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

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

London Care [Ensham House] is an ‘extra care’ scheme. This service 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 bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

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

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 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.

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

We spoke in person with the registered manager. We spoke with nine people, two relatives, 11 care workers and two health care professionals who have regular contact with the service, to get their views about the care provided. We looked at four people’s care plans and three staff records. We reviewed a range of records. They included staff rotas, training and supervision, people’s medicines records, risk assessments, reviews and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, quality assurance, policies and procedures. After the visit we continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We requested additional evidence to be sent to us after our inspection. This included medicines logs copies of the communication book and governance reviews. We received the information which was used as part of our inspection.

Updated 13 July 2022

About the service

London Care [Ensham House] provides personal care and support to people living in an extra care housing scheme. This consists of 45 individual flats within a staffed building with some communal areas. At the time of our inspection there were 35 older people using the service. A separate organisation manages the building. 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

At the last inspection the service provided was not always safe for people to use and staff to work in as suitable numbers of staff were sometimes not available to meet people’s needs. The service was not always well-led. Shortfalls identified by the quality assurance (QA) system were not being addressed and shortfalls of the care planning systems placed people at the risk of harm.

At this inspection most people and their relatives said there were enough staff who provided safe care and support in a friendly, caring way that met their needs. Risks to people were assessed, monitored and reviewed. This enabled them to take acceptable risks, enjoy their lives and live safely. Accidents, incidents and safeguarding concerns were reported, investigated and recorded. There were appropriately recruited staff to meet people’s needs. Medicines were safely administered by trained staff.

At this inspection the quality assurance and care planning system ensured people received their calls on time and for the full duration.

The service had an open and honest culture and there was a clearly defined vision and values that staff we spoke with understood and followed. This was done in a caring, kind and sympathetic way. The QA systems and audits identified issues, and they were addressed. Areas of responsibility and accountability were identified, with staff prepared to take responsibility and report any concerns. There were well-established working partnerships with health care professionals. Records including people’s daily logs and care plans were up to date, as well as staff information. People praised the caring and responsive approach of the registered manager and staff.

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 requires improvement (published 1 October 2021) and there were multiple breaches of regulation.

Why we inspected

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. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine the risks associated with these issues.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) has introduced focused inspections to follow up on previous breaches and to check specific concerns.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

As no concerns were identified in relation to the key questions Effective, Caring and Responsive, we decided not to inspect these questions. Ratings from the previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions 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 London Care [Ensham House] 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.