I Decide Domiciliary Care agency is based in Barnet. At the time of this inspection, they provided care and support to one person living in their own home with further plans to expand. I Decide currently provide care to older people to maintain and develop their independence. This includes assisting people with personal care and assisting them to maintain their wellbeing and independence.There is a registered manager in post. At the time of our inspection the registered manager was on leave, therefore we spoke with the nominated individual who was also the director with overall responsibility for making decisions about how the service is run. We subsequently spoke with the registered manager following our inspection visit. 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.
This inspection took place on the 6 June 2016 and was announced.
Systems were in place to monitor the service, however these were not always effective in ensuring that care records for people using the service were accurate and up to date.
Staff completed an induction and said they felt supported by senior management. However, staff training was not always effective to ensure that staff understood their role in reporting suspicions of abuse. The provider did not follow their recruitment procedure before employing staff. Therefore this put people at risk of receiving care from staff who had not been subject to the necessary checks to ensure they were safe to work with people.
People were involved in their care and felt staff treated them with dignity and respect. Staff knew people and had an understanding of their individual care needs. Staff provided support as required, such as preparing meals and assisting with personal care.
Assessments were carried out to identify people's care needs before they received care. These had been agreed with people to ensure the agency provided the care and support people needed. Care plans identified people's needs, however these were not written in a person centred way and changes in people’s needs were not always recorded in their care records.
Environmental risk assessments were in place and staff knew about these. Although staff knew people well, control measures for managing risks and individual risks were not documented.
People and staff felt the service was well run and found senior management approachable. We found a number of gaps in care records and policies and procedures did not reflect the way the services were delivered.
We found three breaches relating to risk management, staff training and support, records and governance.