Archived: Your Life Your Way

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.

Notice of inspection:

This inspection took place at the offices of the service on 7, 16 and 23 January 2019. All of these visits were announced as we needed to make sure that people we needed to speak with were available. During these visits we spoken with 10 staff members and three members of the senior management team, two of which were registered managers.

The inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector and three experts by experience who contacted 30 people and their carers and relatives by telephone on the 7 January 2019. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service type:

Your Life Your Way is registered to provide domiciliary care and support to people within their own homes. As part of this service people were in receipt of 24 hour support packages that were delivered by a team of staff.

The service had three managers 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.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed the information that we had received from the registered provider which included statutory notifications, safeguarding alerts and information from other agencies. We looked at records relating to people's care and support needs, medicines records and people's care plans. In addition, we looked at records maintained in relation to the management of the service and policies and procedures.

Prior to the inspection the registered manager had completed a provider information return (PIR). This document gave the service the opportunity to tell us what they do well, areas of planned improvement and the services plans for the future. As part of the PIR process 13 people, two family members and 24 staff had completed a survey form telling us about their experiences of the service. In addition, eight community professionals completed a survey form.

Updated 26 March 2019

About the service:

Your Life Your Way provides care and support to adults and children living in their own homes. The service provides both domiciliary care support along with 24 hour packages in which specific teams of staff are employed to work. At the time of this inspection the service was supporting approximately 80 people.

People's experience of using this service:

Improvements had been made since the last inspection so that procedures for recording medicines were in place, identified risks to people were now fully recorded and care plans identified the intended outcomes for people and how their needs were to be met in a more person centred approach. Improvements had been made to the governance systems in place to ensure that the quality of the service was being monitored.

We have made a recommendation that a review of the roles of office based staff and management arrangements takes place to promote effective communication and service delivery

Systems for assessing and monitoring the quality and safety of the service were more effective in identifying areas for improvement within the service.

People’s needs were assessed and regularly reviewed. People received care and support from appropriately trained staff. People were supported to have a nutritious and balanced diet and were supported with their healthcare needs which were understood and met.

Systems were in place to gather people's views on the service they received. People were protected from abuse and the risk of abuse and staff understood their role in relation to this. People and their family members told us that the service was safe. Risks to people and others were identified and measures put in place to minimise harm. Good infection control practices were followed to minimise the risk of the spread of infection.

Staff were knowledgeable about people's needs and how they were to be met. People told us they received care and support in line with their care plan. People and their family members knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint about the service. However, people had differing views on the effectiveness of the service’s complaints procedures.

People were treated with kindness and respect by staff who knew them well. People spoke positively about the staff who delivered their care and support. Procedures were in place to ensure that they received information in a manner that they understood.

Details are in the key questions below.

Rating at the last inspection: Required Improvement (report published on 8 January 2018).

Why we inspected: this was a planned inspection based on the rating of the last inspection. The rating for this service has improved to good overall.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.