About the service Churchill Health Care (Harrow) is a domiciliary care agency. The agency provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community in the London boroughs of Harrow and Ealing. There were approximately 82 people using the service at the time of our inspection, most of whom were living with conditions associated with ageing, including dementia. 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
Care staff were safely recruited, and essential pre-employment checks had been carried out. The provider had acted to address concerns we found at our previous inspection about staff punctuality when attending care visits. An electronic call monitoring and care recording system had been introduced and this had led to improvements in people receiving care in a timely manner.
People were protected from potential risks. Risks to people’s health and wellbeing had been assessed. Risk assessments contained guidance for care staff on minimising risks to people.
There were suitable arrangements to ensure that people received their medicines as prescribed. Care staff had received medicines administration training and knew how to administer medicines safely.
People’s care needs had been assessed. They and their representatives, where appropriate, had been engaged in the development of care plans and risk assessments. Regular reviews of care took place. The provider’s electronic care recording system ensured staff were immediately notified of any changes in people’s needs.
People were protected from the risk of abuse or harm. Care staff had received training on how to safeguard people. They were aware of their responsibilities if they suspected that people were at risk of abuse or harm.
People who used the service had been treated with dignity and respect. They and their relatives told us they felt safe when supported by care staff.
People were aware of the provider’s complaints' procedure and knew how to complain or raise concerns. The service’s records indicated that complaints had been responded to.
The provider had made improvements to their quality monitoring system. Regular audits and reviews of care and safety had taken place.
Staff had worked closely with other health and social care professionals to ensure people’s needs were met.
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 the service was Requires Improvement (published on 30 July 2021) and there were 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.
At our last inspection we recommended that the provider reviewed its communication with staff to ensure they received up to date information about people’s needs. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on this recommendation and had made improvements.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced focused inspection of this service on 8 June 2021. 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 staffing 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, Responsive 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 Churchill Health Care (Harrow) 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.