Empowered Lives Limited

Empowered Lives Ltd. is a domiciliary care service providing personal care support to people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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.

At the time of our inspection there were four people 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. However, some of the provider’s documentation relating to people’s consent was contradictory, and we have made a recommendation about reviewing how people’s consent to their care and treatment was obtained and recorded.

People felt safe using the service. There were enough, safely recruited staff to meet people’s needs, and staff had the training and support they needed. Risks associated with people’s care were assessed, and plans were in place to show how these risks were managed. The provider had acted to ensure people and staff were aware of what may constitute abuse and how to report any concerns. People had good support with their medicines.

People had good support with eating, drinking and their overall health. The provider ensured people got information in ways and languages they understood.

People told us they had a good relationship with staff, and our observations supported this. People’s rights were upheld, and the provider had a good approach to understanding people’s diverse needs and how to ensure these were met.

Care plans were person-centred and kept up to date, but there was a lack of information about people’s end of life wishes. We have made a recommendation about reviewing this. There were processes in place to manage formal complaints, however people told us they had not made any.

There were effective systems in place to review the quality of the service, and people and staff were consulted in these processes. People told us they had no concerns about their care and staff gave positive feedback about their experience of working for the provider. The provider worked with a number of other health, social care and voluntary organisations to provide care and support.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 21 October 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.

Empowered Lives were providing a service to one person in their own home, 24 hours a day and had been providing this since November 2016. Some sections of this report are short as we did not want to include information which could compromise the person’s confidentiality.

There was a 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.

A consistent team of staff provided care and support. They had received appropriate training and told us how well they worked as a team. Staffing levels were based on the needs of the person to keep them safe.

The registered manager and staff had completed training in respect of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and understood their responsibilities under the Act.

We found detailed care plans were in place and staff followed these to ensure the person who used the service received the right care and support and was kept safe. This included support with daily living, healthcare, nutrition, personal care and making sure they got their medicines at the right times.

The social worker and staff we spoke with told us how the consistent care and support and dedication of staff had improved the life of the person who used the service.

A complaints procedure was in place, but no concerns had been raised.

The registered manager and staff were committed to providing a personalised, individual service. Various audits were in place to make sure standards were maintained.