Healthvision UK Ltd - North Kensington

Updated 18 January 2024

HealthVision UK Ltd – North Kensington is a home care agency registered for personal care. At the time of this assessment 458 people were being supported with personal care in their own homes. We looked at all 5 key questions but we did not assess all quality statements during this assessment. For those areas we did not assess, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. We assessed the service because the last ratings inspection was more than 5 years ago. In addition, there were a number of concerns raised by staff members, about the service during 2023. The assessment was carried out by 1 assessor, 2 inspectors and 4 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. It included on-site and off-site activities and took place between 29 January and 26 February 2024. We visited the office on 31 January and spoke to the nominated individual, registered manager and other office-based staff. We met and spoke with 1 care worker and sent surveys to all the staff, although we only received 6 responses. The Experts by Experience made 69 calls on 7 February and spoke with 25 people using the service and 12 relatives. The service recruited people safely and employed enough staff. Policies and procedures referenced up-to-date guidance and were reviewed regularly. There were safe medicines processes. People’s needs were assessed. The provider cared about staff’s wellbeing. Care staff listened to people. Feedback was used to learn and improve. The service valued diversity and strived to ensure equality and equity for everyone. Governance and oversight was mostly effective and the provider welcomed suggestions for improvements. Some identified actions had taken a long time to complete. Some people said it was hard to speak to office staff and there were some anomalies with the electronic call monitoring system.

Updated 18 January 2024

People told us they felt safe and there were enough staff to support them. Nobody we spoke with had experienced any missed visits. People said that care staff usually arrived on time and stayed for the length of time required, although transport strikes did have an impact on the carers’ punctuality. Most people said they had regular care staff whom they knew well. One person said, “I get the same carer from Monday to Friday and different ones at the weekend, but they are all good.” People said their medicines were managed safely. One person told us, “They always give me my medicines and they are very good about that.” People felt that care staff were well trained and told us, “Yes I think they are well trained and they are good at their job.” and “The staff are trained to do their job and I also believe they enjoy their job.” Most people said care staff communicated effectively with them, including with different formats and different languages. One person’s relative told us, “They [care staff] are very nice to [name], they have a chat in French, so that’s very fortunate.” However, some people said they felt there was a language barrier with some care staff. People told us their needs had been assessed. One person said, “They understand what is needed to support me and I speak about what I need.” Some people told us there had been difficulties communicating with the office and having concerns or complaints listened to. Most people said that they had noticed improvements over the past few months, although some said they still didn’t feel comfortable making a complaint via the office. One person told us, “Now I have two named points of contact, the care co coordinator and a supervisor, so I liaise with them a lot and that’s much better. Previously it had very problematic contacting the office, so we just rang staff directly. We are much happier with it now.”