Exceptional Care At Home (Barnet)

“We found the service had established structured and effective systems to support safe care delivery and oversight, and evidence seen during the assessment indicated these were being applied in practice. People and their relatives provided consistently positive feedback, reporting that care was delivered safely by regular staff, and that care workers treated them with kindness, dignity and respect. Records reviewed, including care plans, risk assessments and daily notes, were detailed, person‑centred and up to date, supporting effective and responsive care delivery.”

“The provider monitored care delivery, including care‑visit monitoring, incident reporting and quality assurance audits. These systems helped identify and manage risks. Staff recruitment, training and supervision arrangements helped ensure staff were competent to carry out their roles. They worked effectively with partners and external professionals to support people’s needs.”

“However, while governance processes were well structured, audit reports consistently demonstrated low or no issues identified across key areas. This reduced the extent to which audits showed robust analysis and learning from the issues that were found and limited the provider’s ability to fully test the effectiveness of systems and identify emerging risks.”

“In addition, although care plans were reviewed and updated, some people using the service and their relatives reported inconsistencies in communication, including not always being informed of changes or fully aware of care plan reviews. This indicated that while ways to communicate were generally effective, oversight did not always capture people’s lived experience, and opportunities remained to strengthen assurance that changes in care were consistently communicated and understood.”