Light Health Care Ltd

Updated 30 June 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors 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.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 6 June 2023 and ended on 16 June 2023. We made telephone calls to people who use the service and their families on 6 June 2023 and visited the location’s office on 13 June 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since they registered with CQC. We sought feedback from the local authority, Healthwatch and professionals who work with the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke over the telephone with 2 people who used the service and 5 family members. We spoke with the registered manager, nominated individual, administrator of the service and contacted 7 staff by email to receive feedback. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We visited the office location to review written records. We looked at three people's care records. We checked records relating to the management of the service including staff files, policies and procedures and quality assurance records.

Updated 30 June 2023

About the service

Light Health Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 15 people at the time of the inspection. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is 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 and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

Right Support: People, and those who knew them well, were included in planning their care to ensure it met their needs and took account of their wishes. Overall, people were supported to have choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care: People were protected from the risk of abuse. Risk assessments had been carried out to identify the risks people faced. These included information about how to mitigate those risks. However, records relating to risk needed improving and we have made a recommendation about this. There were enough staff working at the service to meet people's needs and the provider had robust staff recruitment practices in place. One relative felt the timing of visits was sometimes inconsistent and communication between staff and people could be improved. The registered manager was aware, and had been addressing these concerns, including the continued monitoring of staff visit times. Infection control and prevention systems were in place. Medicines were managed effectively.

Right Culture: People were supported with care that was person-centred. Audits and checks of documents and systems helped ensure continuous learning and improvement. People, their family members and staff had regular opportunities to provide feedback about the service and there was an effective complaints process in place. The provider was aware of their legal obligations and worked with other agencies to develop best practice and share knowledge.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update The service was registered with us on 16 March 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.