Background to this inspection
Updated
27 May 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.
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
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 13 March 2020 and ended on 28 April 2020. We visited the office location on 13 March 2020 and contacted people who use the service, their relatives and care staff by telephone and email to gather their views between 2 and 28 April 2020.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed the information we held about the service including notifications of significant events the registered manager had sent to us. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us 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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with the registered manager and reviewed a range of records including the care records for three people and two staff files in relation to recruitment and training. We also looked at a range of records relating to the management of the service.
After the inspection
We contacted two people who used the service and two relatives to gather their views. We also contacted four care staff to gather their views of the service.
Updated
27 May 2020
About the service
YourLife (Kendal) provides personal care to adults living in their own homes in Kendal, Cumbria. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive a regulated activity. 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 four people were receiving personal care.
The service was only supporting people who lived in Wainwright Court, a purpose built retirement complex in a residential area of Kendal. Staff were based and managed from within the retirement complex. People lived in their own apartments in the complex and could purchase personal care from the on-site service if they wished.
The retirement complex also had communal areas including a lounge, restaurant and garden.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. There were enough staff to support people. The staff supported people to take their medicines, as they needed. The staff followed robust procedures to protect themselves and people they cared for from the risk of infection. The provider had systems in place to ensure lessons were learnt from any incidents to further improve the safety of the service.
The registered manager assessed people’s needs and people received the support they required. The staff were trained and skilled to provide people’s care. People made decisions about their care and their rights were protected. 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 was no one who needed support from staff with eating or drinking or to arrange or attend routine medical appointments.
The staff treated people in a kind and caring way. They treated people as individuals and respected their rights and choices. The staff and registered manager asked people for their views about their care and respected the decisions they made. The staff were very respectful towards people and promoted their privacy, dignity and independence.
People’s care was planned and delivered to meet their needs. The service was responsive to people’s needs and wishes. The registered provider had an effective procedure for receiving and responding to complaints about the service. The staff worked with local and specialist health care services to care for people and to support them to stay in their homes, where possible, as they reached the end of their lives.
People received high-quality, person-centred care that met their needs. The registered manager and provider assessed the quality and safety of the service. They asked the views of people who used the service and staff to identify how the service could be improved. The staff worked with other appropriate services to ensure people consistently received care that met their needs.
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 28 September 2017).
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.