Archived: HomeLife Carers (Okehampton)

Updated 17 March 2020

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was conducted by one inspector and an Expert by Experience with experience of care of older people. An expert by experience is a person who had personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Homelife Carers (Okehampton) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses in the Okehampton area. Not everyone using the service receives regulated activity; 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.

There was no registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The current manager was in the process of registering with the Care Quality Commission.

Notice of inspection:

This announced comprehensive inspection took place on 4 and 5 February 2020. The provider was given short notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed the Provider Information Record (PIR). The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed the information we held about the service and notifications we had received. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law.

We spoke to eight people and six relatives to ask their views of the service they received. We also spoke with eight members of staff, which included the new manager. We visited two people in their own homes.

We reviewed three people’s care files, two staff files, staff training records and a selection of policies, procedures and records relating to the management of the service. After our visit we sought feedback from health and social care professionals to obtain their views of the service provided to people. Unfortunately, we did not receive any feedback.

Updated 17 March 2020

About the service

Homelife Carers (Okehampton) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses in the Okehampton area. Not everyone using the service receives regulated activity; 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 32 people were receiving ‘personal care.’

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were supported to have maximum 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.

The service provided safe care to people. One person commented: “I feel very safe indeed.” Measures to manage risk were as least restrictive as possible to protect people’s freedom. People’s rights were protected because the service followed the appropriate legal processes. Medicines were safely managed on people’s behalf.

Care files were personalised to reflect people’s personal preferences. Their views and suggestions were taken into account to improve the service. People were supported to maintain a balanced diet. Health and social care professionals were regularly involved in people’s care to ensure they received the care and treatment which was right for them.

Staff relationships with people were caring and supportive. Staff provided care that was kind and compassionate.

There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. People confirmed that staffing arrangements met their needs. However, due to staff sickness and travel times late visits did occur and rotas often had gaps which people found difficult. People did say that things had improved since the new manager came into post, citing communication from the office was much better when changes to rotas were needed or a carer running late. People confirmed staff always stayed the allotted time.

There were effective staff recruitment and selection processes in place. People received effective care and support from staff who were well trained and competent.

Staff spoke positively about communication and how the new manager worked well with them and encouraged their professional development.

A number of methods were used to assess the quality and safety of the service people received. The service made continuous improvements in response to their findings.

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

Rating at last inspection: Good (report published in August 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Homelife Carers (Okehampton) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.