Archived: Sagecare (Camden)

Updated 17 October 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and two Experts 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.

Service and service type

Active Care & Support Ltd is a 'domiciliary care service' where people receive care and support in their own homes. Therefore, the CQC only regulates the care provided to people and not the premises they live in. 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 it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 30 July 2019 and ended on 6 September 2019. We visited the office location on 30 July 2019.

What we did before the inspection

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information and evidence we already held about this service, which had been collected via our ongoing monitoring of care services. This included notifications sent to us by the service. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to us without delay. We also viewed the provider information return (PIR). 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.

During the inspection

We spoke with one relative and eleven people who used the service. We spoke with the registered manager and five care workers. We reviewed six care records of people using the service, seven personnel files of care workers, audits and other records about the management of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We received information relating to the provider’s governance systems. This information was used as part of our inspection.

Updated 17 October 2019

About the service

Sagecare (Camden) is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were 80 people using the service. Everyone using the service lived within the London Borough of Camden and had their service commissioned by the local authority.

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

Risks to people were minimised because there were effective systems and processes in place. Risk assessments detailed information about how to support people to make sure risks were minimised.

Care staff had been recruited safely. Their personnel records showed pre-employment checks had been carried out to make sure new care workers were of good character to work with people.

Improvements were being made in relation to staff punctuality. The service had invested in an electronic monitoring system to log all care calls made by care workers. Care workers were being allocated according to geographical areas, which reduced travel time and therefore improved timeliness.

Systems and processes were in place to support care workers to understand their role and responsibilities to protect people from avoidable harm. Staff were knowledgeable about the actions required to protect people from abuse.

There was a process in place to report, monitor and learn from accidents and incidents. Guidelines were in place for care workers on how to report accidents and incidents.

People were protected from the risks associated with poor infection control because the service had processes in place to reduce the risk of infection and cross contamination.

There were systems in place to ensure proper and safe use of medicines. Care workers had received medicines training so that they were competent to administer medicines.

Care workers had received regular training and support, so they could carry out their roles effectively. They had also received an induction before they could provide care and support to people.

People were supported to have sufficient amounts to eat and drink. They told us care workers left food or drink within reach before leaving people’s homes.

People had access to healthcare services. The service worked with other health care services to ensure people’s health needs were met.

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.

People's privacy and dignity was respected. Confidential information, such as care records were only accessed by staff authorised to view it.

People received support that met their individual needs. Care workers were knowledgeable about their needs. They could describe to us how people liked to be supported.

There was a complaints procedure, which people and their relatives were aware of. A range of other quality assurance processes such as audits, spot checks, accidents and incidents, were used to drive improvements.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This is the first inspection for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated Good. This meant people were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

Why we inspected

This was a routine comprehensive inspection and in line with our timescales to inspecting newly registered services.

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.