Fern Care Services Limited

About the service: The service is based in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. The service provided personal care to adults living in their own homes. The 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 take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection, 28 adults used the service and there were 21 staff.

People's experience of using this service: • Since the last inspection, we found a number of improvements had been made. • Most risks had been identified and assessed, which provided information to staff on how to reduce these risks to keep people safe. • Quality assurance and monitoring systems had been introduced since our last inspection to make continuous improvements. • Assessments for people who may lack capacity had not always been carried using the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. We made a recommendation in this area. • There were sufficient staffing levels to support people. Staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults and knew how to keep people safe. • There was a safe recruitment process in place to ensure staff were suitable to support people. • Staff had the knowledge, training and skills to care for people effectively. • Staff received supervision and support to carry out their roles. • Staff knew what to do if people were not feeling well. • People needs and choices were being assessed regularly through review meetings to achieve effective outcomes. • People told us that staff were friendly and caring. • People were treated in a respectful and dignified manner by staff who understood the need to protect people's human rights. • People had been involved with making decisions about their care. • Care plans were person centred and included clear information on how to support people. • People were aware of how to make complaints if they wanted to and staff knew how to manage complaints. • Staff felt well supported by the management team. • The service met the characteristics for a rating of 'Good' in all the key questions we inspected. Therefore, our overall rating for the service after the this inspection was 'Good'. • More information is in our full report.