Archived: MiHomecare - Welling

Updated 16 June 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This was an announced inspection and took place on 27 March 2015. Forty-eight hours’ notice of the inspection was given because the service is a domiciliary care agency and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

In July 2013, our inspection found that the service met the regulations we inspected against. At this inspection the service met the regulations.

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection, we checked notifications made to us by the provider, safeguarding alerts raised regarding people using the service and information we held on our database about the service and provider.

There were 150 people receiving a service. During the inspection, we spoke with ten people using the service, five relatives, six staff and the registered manager.

During our visit we looked at copies of fifteen care plans and ten staff records that were kept in the office. The original versions were kept in people’s homes. We also looked at records, policies, procedures and spoke with office based staff. Information, in the records we looked at included needs assessments, risk assessments, feedback from people using the service, relatives, staff training, supervision and appraisal systems and quality assurance.

Updated 16 June 2015

Mihomecare Welling is a domiciliary care agency which provides care in peoples' own homes. It is situated in the London borough of Bexley.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People said the service provided was generally good, although one person said not all the staff were suitable for the tasks allocated to them. They were satisfied with the service and thought it felt safe, was effective, caring, responsive and well led.

The records were kept up to date and covered all aspects of the care and support people received, their choices and identified and met their needs. They contained clearly recorded, fully completed, and regularly reviewed information that enabled staff to perform their duties. People were protected from nutrition and hydration associated risks by staff monitoring diets if appropriate and promoting healthy eating. People were encouraged to discuss health and other needs with staff and had agreed information passed on to their GP’s and other community based health professionals, as required. This included information that may contribute to decisions made under The Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) processes.

There was a robust recruitment process that was followed. The staff were well trained and said the organisation was flexible, a good one to work for and they enjoyed their work. They had access to training, and support. People said the manager was approachable, responsive, encouraged feedback from them and consistently monitored and assessed the quality of the service provided.

There were enough staff who knowledgeable about the people they supported, the care they required and received support from the agency to provide it. They had appropriate skills and provided care and support in a professional, friendly and supportive way that was focussed on the individual.