This announced inspection took place on 10 and 11 July 2018. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we wanted to make sure someone would be available to speak with us. This was the first inspection since the service registered with the Care Quality Commission on 3 August 2016. In addition the provider moved premises in February 2018.

ICare Resource Limited provides a domiciliary care service for people living in their own homes in the community. The service offers support to people who require help with day to day care including personal care and meal preparation. At the time of our inspection there were 77 people using the service who were receiving personal care, the majority of whom were placed by Redbridge social services.

The service is required to have a registered manager and there was one in post who was also a director of the company. 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.

We identified some gaps in recording and discrepancies between medicine administration instructions and medicine administration records that had not been picked up and investigated. Auditing and monitoring processes had not been robust and therefore shortfalls had not always been identified and addressed. Action was being taken to improve these processes and work was ongoing on this.

People and relatives said people were being cared for safely by the care workers. Policies and procedures were in place for safeguarding people from the risk of abuse and the registered manager knew the processes to follow to report any concerns. Risk assessments for people’s home environment and individual risks had been carried out and plans put in place to minimise them. Staff said they were provided with personal protective equipment for infection control and understood infection control procedures.

Staff received the training to provide them with the knowledge and skills to care for people effectively. Staff provided assistance with simple meal preparation where needed. Staff said they would report any concerns about a person’s health, including contacting the emergency services if necessary.

If there were concerns that people could not make decisions for themselves then mental capacity and best interests assessments were conducted. Staff respected people’s right to make decisions about their care and treatment and knew to report any deterioration in a person’s ability to do so.

People and relatives said staff were kind and caring, treating people with dignity and respect. People felt they were encouraged and supported to maintain as much independence as they could. Staff encouraged people to make choices about their own care and these choices were respected.

Care records provided staff with information about the care and support each person required. The complaints procedure was made available to people and people and relatives said they would raise any issues they might have so they could be addressed. At the time of our inspection no-one was receiving end of life care.

People and their relatives said it was easy to contact the registered manager and senior staff, who responded promptly. Staff said the registered manager and office staff were approachable and supportive. Policies and procedures were in place and the registered manager was a member of several organisations which they used to keep up to date with current legislation and good practice.

We found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This was in relation to safe care and treatment. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report