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Laniwyn Care Services

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

7 Paynes Park, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG5 1EH (01462) 429759

Provided and run by:
Laniwyn Care Services

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 10 May 2023

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out this inspection.

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 48 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 available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 23 February 2023 and ended on 14 March 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service.

During the inspection

This inspection was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. We spoke to the registered manager who was delivering the care and the nominated individual. We spoke to three people’s relatives to gain their view about the service and two staff members. We reviewed a variety of records relating to people’s care and the overall management of the service.

The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service.

Overall inspection

Requires improvement

Updated 10 May 2023

About the service

Laniwyn Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care service that provides care and support to adults and children living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were seventeen people using the service. 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.

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.

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

Right Support: People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed. Medicine management procedures in place supported safe medicine administration. 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. There were enough staff to meet people's needs, however people did not always receive their care as planned. Safe recruitment practices were followed.

Right Care: People were supported by kind staff; however further training was required for staff to fully understand their needs. People told us they felt safe using the service. Staff understood how to protect people from harm and how to raise concerns. The registered manager understood their role and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding people. Care plans were in place however these required further detail to be person centred and risk assessments relating to people’s support required further development. People were treated with dignity and respect however a greater understanding of people’s needs through training would enable staff to better understand people and encourage them to learn new skills and participate in activities they enjoyed.

Right Culture: Systems and processes to ensure management oversight were not always effective. Records were not always accurate and did not always contain sufficient details. The registered manager implemented changes immediately after the inspection. Feedback was sought from relatives and staff who told us the registered manager demonstrated an open and transparent approach. Staff enjoyed working at the service and felt supported in their roles. The registered manager and staff worked with external professionals to drive improvement and learn lessons.

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 04 April 2020).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to risk management, staffing, safe care, and management oversight of the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Laniwyn Care Services Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will follow up in a couple of months and request evidence of actions taken. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.