About the service:

LifeCome Care, London is a home care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the London Borough of Lambeth. It provides a service to mainly older people living with dementia and/or who are physically disabled and some younger adults with a learning disability or mental health needs.

It also provides a six-week reablement service to people discharged from hospital to support their post-hospitalisation resettlement at home.

At the time of our inspection 35 people aged 40 and over received personal care either as part of their long-term home care service or a temporary six-week reablement service from this agency.

Seven people LifeCome Care, London also supported at home did not receive a regulated activity from them. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; 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:

People receiving a home care service from this newly registered agency usually received good outcomes and therefore we have rated them ‘Good’ overall and for four out of five key questions, ‘Is the service effective, caring, responsive and well-led?’

However, we have rated them Requires Improvement for the one key question, ‘Is the service safe?’ because we received mixed feedback from people about staff punctuality and continuity.

We discussed these issues with the registered manager who told us they were in the process of introducing a new centralised electronic system that would allow the newly recruited deputy manager to closely monitor staff punctuality, length of their visit and staff continuity.

Progress made by the provider to achieve these stated aims will be assessed at their next inspection.

• The issues described above notwithstanding, people told us they were happy with the overall standard of care and support they received from this new agency.

• People received a home care service from staff who were in the main suitably trained and supported to meet their personal care needs.

• People were protected from avoidable harm, discrimination and abuse.

• Risks to people had been assessed and was regularly reviewed to ensure people’s needs were safely met.

• Appropriate recruitment checks took place before staff started working for the service.

• The agency had procedures in place to reduce the risk of the spread of infection.

• Accidents and incidents were analysed for lessons learnt and these were shared with the staff team to reduce further reoccurrence.

• Where people needed assistance with taking their prescribed medicines this was monitored and safely managed in line with best practice guidance.

• Staff routinely sought the consent of the people they supported.

• Managers and staff were knowledgeable about and adhered to the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

• People were supported to maintain a balanced diet where staff were reasonable for this.

• People received the support they needed to stay healthy and to access health care services as and when required.

• People received support from staff who were kind and compassionate.

• Staff treated people they supported with dignity and respect.

• Staff ensured people's privacy was always maintained particularly when they supported people with their personal care needs.

• People were supported to do as much as they could and wanted to do for themselves to retain control and independence over their lives.

• People needs and wishes were assessed and planned for.

• People, and where appropriate their relatives and professional representatives, were involved in discussions and decisions about how the home care service they would receive from this agency.

• People’s care plans were personalised and routinely reviewed to ensure they remained up to da