Walfinch East Barnet

Updated 18 January 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

This inspection was carried out by one inspector and one Expert by Experience who made telephone calls to people and relatives of people using the service. 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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 a short period 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 22 November 2021 and ended on 13 December 2021. We visited the office location on 03 December 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the service was registered with the commission. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the nominated individual and the registered manager about the overall management and running of the service. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We looked at rota management and electronic monitoring systems and discussed various topics including safeguarding, complaints, training and pre-service assessments.

After the inspection

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care plans and three people’s medicine records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

We also spoke with one person using the service and six relatives of people using the service. We also spoke with one field care supervisor and five care staff. We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found.

Updated 18 January 2022

About the service

Walfinch East Barnet is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes and flats in the community. The service supports people with a range of physical, sensory and learning disabilities as well as older people including those living with dementia. At the time of this inspection there were 12 people using the service.

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

One person and relatives of people using the service spoke positively of the service and the care and support that they received stating that they had developed caring and respectful relationships with the care staff that supported them.

Relatives told us that they felt safe and confident with the care staff that supported them. Care staff knew the signs to look for if abuse was suspected and told us of the actions they would take to protect people from abuse.

Safe medicines management and administration processes in place ensured people received their medicines as prescribed and on time.

People were supported by care staff that they knew, who arrived on time and always stayed their full allocated time. Recruitment processes ensured that only care staff assessed as safe to work with vulnerable adults were employed.

People were supported by care staff who had been appropriately trained and were skilled in their role. Care staff told us they were regularly supported through supervision and annual appraisals.

People were supported to eat and drink enough where this was an assessed need. The service supported people to lead healthy lives and supported them to access relevant health care services where required.

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 and relatives knew who to speak with if they had any complaints and were confident their concerns would be dealt with appropriately and in a timely manner.

Care plans were person centred, giving care staff information and guidance to support people with their needs and wishes. However, some care plans lacked detailed information on how to minimise risk for people and to enable the delivery of safe, effective and responsive care.

Management oversight processes in place enabled the service to monitor the quality of care people received. However, where we had identified some minor concerns with care plan records, this had not been identified through the providers internal audit processes.

We have made a recommendation about ensuring that comprehensive records are maintained to support the delivery of good quality care.

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

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection. This service was registered with us on 09 March 2021 and this is the first inspection.

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.