- Homecare service
London Care (Ensham House)
Report from 14 February 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 11 February to 18 February 2025.
London Care (Ensham House) is an 'extra care' housing scheme providing personal care to people who live in their own individual flats in a shared building. A Housing Association owns, and is responsible for the building. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not regulate premises used for extra care housing or people who do not receive personal care.
At the time of our assessment 36 people who were receiving personal care at the scheme.
This assessment was prompted in part due to concerns received about the management of staff at the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
Based on the findings of this assessment the service has been rated good. However, we found there were breaches around how risks were managed and governance processes.
We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.
Right support: Staff recruitment practices were safe. However, people were not always kept as safe as possible as identified risks, including medicines were not managed well.
Right care: People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.
Right culture: Although the management of the service was consistent, feedback from staff indicated that the culture could be improved. Governance systems were not always operated effectively. Staff were encouraged to raise concerns and provide feedback, however they told us they did not always feel listened to.
The provider was in breach of the legal regulation relating to managing risk and good governance. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found.
People's experience of this service
People were positive about the care they received from staff at London care (Ensham House). They said they enjoyed living independent lives and care workers were kind and friendly towards them. Typical comments included, “They look after me properly, I feel safe with the carers”, “Its OK here, it’s good. I’ve got my own flat”, “I get my meds on time”, “We have coffee mornings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we have different activities” and “Staff help me, they are fine. They chat and make me laugh.”
However, one area of concern that was unanimous across the people we spoke with was the providers response to the emergency call bell system when they requested assistance outside of their call visit times. They said, “Care staff are good, but you never know who’s coming”, “They don’t tell you when they are running late” and “They don’t tell me when they are late.”
People were supported to have their say and share their views and concerns. The provider sought their feedback, asking them about their experience of care including any areas of improvement.