Blackpool North, Cleveleys and Fleetwood Home Instead

Updated 19 April 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults.

This comprehensive inspection took place across two dates 09 and 10 January 2018. The first day on the inspection was announced. This was done in order to ensure someone would be at the office for us to speak to. In addition we required consent from people who used the service to provide feedback.

The inspection team comprised of one adult social care inspector 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 home. The expert-by-experience had background knowledge of domiciliary health and social care services.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the time of inspection there were 30 people who used the service. We spoke with a range of people about Blackpool North, Cleveleys and Fleetwood Home Instead. They included four people who used the service, six relatives, the registered manager, the nominated individual and six staff members.

Before the inspection visit we contacted the commissioning department at Lancashire County Council. In addition we contacted Healthwatch Lancashire. Healthwatch Lancashire is an independent consumer champion for health and social care. This helped us to gain a balanced overview of what people experienced accessing the home.

We closely examined the care records of four people who used the service. This process is called pathway tracking and enables us to judge how well the home understands and plans to meet people's care needs and manage any risks to people's health and wellbeing.

We reviewed a variety of records, including policies and procedures, safety and quality audits, three staff personnel and training files, records of accidents, complaints records, various service certificates and medicine administration records.

Updated 19 April 2018

Blackpool North, Cleveleys and Fleetwood Home Instead are a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. At the time of the inspection visit there were 30 people receiving a service.

At our last inspection we rated the service Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good and the Caring domain had improved to Outstanding. There was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

We looked at how accidents and incidents were managed. We found some documentation had not been fully completed and did not always have evidence of actions taken. We have made a recommendation around this.

We looked at how medicines were managed at the service. We found some information required updating. We have made a recommendation about this.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. However, we found documentation around this was at times conflicting. We have made a recommendation about this.

We saw evidence quality monitoring was being undertaken at the service. However, we found this process was not always robust and effective. We have made a recommendation about this.

We found people were protected from risks associated with their care because the registered provider had completed risk assessments. We received consistent positive feedback about the staff and about the care people received.

We found there was a strong visible person centred culture at the service. The service ensured staff focussed on building and maintaining open and honest relationships with people and their families. People were supported to undertake their hobbies by staff. One person told us, “They take my relative to bingo, the cinema or the pub.”

Staff had a good understanding of protecting and respecting people's human rights. Some staff had received training which included guidance in equality and diversity. We discussed this with staff; they described the importance of promoting each individual's uniqueness.

The management team and staff discussed the people they supported with affection, respect and clear insight into their unique personalities, needs and requirements. This included knowledge of people's personal backgrounds, their hobbies and interests and the emotional support they needed on a day-to-day basis. Staff and management showed compassion and empathy toward people who used the service. One example we saw was for a person who required further support due to sensory loss. The service had implemented the use of a whiteboard to write on in larger letters so the person could see this.

There was a clear vision and credible strategy to deliver high quality care and support. Staff were aware and involved in this vision and the values shared.

Further information is in the detailed findings below