This responsive assessment was carried out to check if the service had made improvements since our last inspection. Prior Care Limited provides care and support to people living in their own home. Not everyone using Prior Care Limited received regulated activity; 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. This assessment was carried with a site visit to the office location. This assessment was carried out by an assessor, a regulatory coordinator and an Expert by Experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Assessment activity started on 14 July 2025 and ended on 31 July 2025. We looked at 15 quality statements as part of this assessment. We gave the service advance notice of the inspection. This was because we wanted to make sure someone would be available to support us with the inspection. The site visit was carried out on 21 July 2025. We gathered further information remotely from the service such as staff call logs and policies. We also spoke with relatives of people that used the service and staff after the site visit to get their feedback about the service.
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Prior Care Limited, a domiciliary care agency in Havering supporting 34 people, was rated Requires Improvement overall due to breaches of Regulation 17 (good governance) and Regulation 18 (staffing), with staff routinely arriving late to calls and no travel time allocated between appointments. Safe and well-led key questions were rated Requires Improvement, while effective, caring and responsive all remained Good, with positive feedback from people and relatives about staff conduct, care planning and medicines management.
Concerns (5)
criticalMissed or late visits: “Staff monitoring data showed a number of calls had not been attended on time and staff did not stay the duration of the visits.”
criticalStaffing levels: “Staff were not being given time to travel in between appointments, which meant that they would be late for calls.”
criticalGovernance: “Audits were not being completed on staff timekeeping to ensure staff attended calls on time and stayed the duration of the visit.”
moderateRecord keeping: “Care plans were not being audited, which may have identified the shortfalls we found with communication plans.”
minorCommunication with families: “Peoples communication ability was not recorded on the care plans.”
Strengths
· Risk assessments were in place covering health conditions, falls and skin complications, ensuring people received safe care.
· Medicines were managed safely with MARs confirming administration as prescribed and staff trained and confident.
· Staff completed mandatory training including moving and handling, safeguarding and basic life support; supervisions carried out regularly.
· Pre-employment checks including DBS, references, identity and right-to-work checks were carried out for all staff.
· People were treated with kindness, dignity and respect; staff encouraged independence and maintained privacy during personal care.
Quality-Statement breakdown (22)
safe: Staffing and recruitmentRequires improvement
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementGood
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseGood
safe: Using medicines safelyGood
safe: Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionGood
effective: Staff support: training, skills and experienceGood
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the lawGood
effective: Supporting people to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced dietGood
effective: Supporting people to live healthier lives, access healthcare services and supportGood
effective: Ensuring consent to care and treatment in line with law and guidanceGood
caring: Ensuring people are well treated and supported; equality and diversityGood
caring: Supporting people to express their views and be involved in making decisions about their careGood
caring: Respecting and promoting people's privacy, dignity and independenceGood
responsive: Planning personalised care to ensure people have choice and control and to meet their needs and preferencesGood
responsive: Meeting people's communication needsGood
responsive: Improving care quality in response to complaints or concernsGood
responsive: End of life care and supportGood
well-led: Promoting a positive culture; managers and staff being clear about their roles and understanding quality performance, risks and regulatory requirementsRequires improvement
well-led: Engaging and involving people using the service, the public and staff; continuous learning and improving careGood
well-led: How the provider understands and acts on the duty of candourGood