Archived: Westminster Homecare Limited (Oxford)

Updated 2 March 2016

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

This inspection took place on 19 and 20 January 2016 and was announced. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming. We did this because the manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We needed to be sure that they would be in. The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

Before the visit we looked at previous inspection reports and notifications we had received. Services tell us about important events relating to the care they provide using a notification. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern. We spoke with local authority safeguarding and contracts teams and sought the views of healthcare professionals.

We spoke with 11 of the 46 people who were receiving care and support from Westminster Homecare Limited (Oxford).

In addition we spoke with four care workers, the manager, the operations manager and one office staff member. We looked at six people’s care records and at a range of audit records about how the service was managed. We reviewed the accident log, safeguarding and complaints records. We also reviewed staff files for six individuals, including their recruitment, supervision, training records and the training matrix for all the staff employed by the service.

Updated 2 March 2016

We inspected Westminster Homecare Limited (Oxford) on 19 and 20 January 2016. This was an announced visit. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available in the office. Westminster Homecare Limited is a service which provides care and support to people who live in their own homes. At the time of our visit 46 people were using the service.

There wasn’t a registered manager in post at the service. 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. A new manager had been appointed and started in October 2015. The manager was in the process of submitting their application to become a registered manager with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service.

At our last inspection on 29 January 2015 we found people did not always receive information which was important to them and affected their day. We also found staff did not always receive supervision, appraisals and not always had the training they needed to meet people’s needs. The provider had implemented quality assurance systems which were not always effective. Following our inspection we asked the provider to send us an action plan telling us how they would meet the regulations.

At this inspection we found some improvements had been made and the provider was in a process of implementing further changes to meet the required standard. However we found another area where improvements were required.

People using the service were safe because staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding people from abuse and avoidable harm. Safeguarding procedures were in place to ensure people were safe from abuse and staff were aware of the whistleblowing policy.

People’s files contained risks assessments related to mobility, medication, moving and handling, using a wheelchair, hoisting a person and other. However, we found the risk assessments were of a generic nature and lacked person specific details and management plans to minimise the risk.

People who used the service were mostly positive about the knowledge and skills of staff who supported them. Staff said the training they received was good and gave them confidence in their roles. People were complimentary of staff and gave positive comments. There was consistency in staffing as staff had supported the same people over a period time. This helped staff to know people’s needs and preferences, and develop good working relationships with them.

Staff spoke positively about the support they received from the management. Staff supervision records were up to date and the manager was in a process of carrying out annual appraisals.

Recruitment checks had been carried out to ensure only staff who were suitable and of a good nature were employed to work with people. People were supported to maintain good health and received support, where needed, with their nutritional needs. People told us that the staff were professional, gentle and kind and treated them with dignity and respect.

The provider had an appropriate complaints procedure and people told us they knew how to complain. The provider used an annual survey to obtain people’s feedback about the service.

We received positive feedback about the new manager. The manager was aware of further improvements required to the service. They were in a process of reviewing their arrangements for monitoring the quality of the service. These arrangements were in their early stages but they were recognising signs of improvement. The manager undertook a number of quality assurance audits to monitor the standard of the service and planned to implement further audits and an ongoing service improvement plan.

We found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.