Updated 26 March 2019
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: This inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.
Service and service type: Quality Lifestyles Limited is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to three people living in their own homes in the community. The service is based in Plymouth Science Park, Derriford, Plymouth.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection: This inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the location was a small agency and staff were often out of the office during the day. We needed to be sure that they would be in at the time of our visit.
What we did: Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This 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. The provider returned the PIR and we took this into account when we made judgements in this report. We reviewed other information that we held about the service such as notifications. These are events that happen in the service that the provider is required to tell us about. We also considered information that had been sent to us by other agencies.
After the office visit, we spoke with two relatives over the telephone. We visited the service on the 13 March 2019 and looked at records.
During the inspection, we spoke with the registered manager and the service manager. We visited one person in their own home, however, they were not able to fully verbalise their views about their experiences with the care they received. We received feedback from two health care professional who had been involved with the agency. We also received feedback from two care staff.
We looked at the care and medication records of three people who used the service. We also examined records in relation to the management of the service such as staff recruitment files, quality assurance checks, staff training and supervision records, safe guarding information and accidents and incident information.