Pure Life Homecare

Updated 31 August 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was completed by one inspector.

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 service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 28 July 2022 and ended on 10 August 2022. We visited the office location on 28 July 2022. On the 9 and 10 August we spoke with people, relatives and staff on the telephone.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people and three relatives of the people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with registered manager, the care co-ordinator and three members of staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's care plans, medicines records and daily care records. We looked at recruitment checks and complaints. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

Updated 31 August 2022

About the service

Pure Life Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. At the time of the inspection the service was providing care for 30 people, including people with physical disabilities, learning disabilities and autism, mental health problems and people living with dementia. The service was provided in Canterbury and surrounding areas.

Not everyone using Pure Life Homecare receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

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

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.

The quality of service people received had improved since our last inspection. People told us they received the care and support that they needed.

Management of the service had improved. Since the last inspection the manager had registered with Care Quality Commission (CQC). The registered manager had oversight and scrutiny of the service and was receiving support from the provider. The provider and registered manager were both committed to improving and developing the service.

People told us the service was well managed. People, their relatives and staff spoke highly of the registered manager. They were described as 'very supportive' and 'approachable' and sorted out any issues they had. People and their relatives gave positive feedback about the service they received. People said they felt safe with the staff when they received care in their own homes. People told us they were treated kindly and compassionately by the staff.

People were protected from the risk of avoidable harm. When concerns were identified about people's safety, information was shared with appropriate stakeholders so investigations could be conducted. Risk to people health and safety where identified. The registered manager had ensured all risks associated with people and the service had been assessed and action taken to mitigate the risks.

People were supported with their health needs.The registered manager had oversight of incidents and accidents and lessons had been learnt when things went wrong.

Staff communicated effectively with people and each other to make sure people's needs were met in the way they had chosen. When people were unwell or needed extra support, they were referred to health care professionals and other external agencies. People received person-centred care that promoted their dignity

and independence. Staff followed infection control policies and practices to help protect people from any infection.

Staff knew their roles and were able to tell us about the values and the vision of the service. There were adequate quality assurance measures in place. The registered manager visited people and made calls to check people were happy with the service. Any complaints that were made were managed in the right way and people had been invited to suggest improvements to the service.

There were sufficient numbers of staff to provide the care people needed. People and their relatives said staff arrived when they should and stayed the allotted amount of time. They reported they had not had any missed calls. People said that they usually had consistent care from the same group of staff who had got to know them well. Staff received the training they needed to look after people in the way that suited them best Their competencies were checked by the registered manager to ensure staff had the skills to do their job well and effectively meet people's needs.

Staff received support, guidance and advice from the registered manager and provider. Learning needs were identified and staff had opportunities for personal development. The registered manager regularly worked alongside the staff team and checked that staff were working with people safely. All safety recruitment checks were completed before staff started working with people.

People were supported to express their views and make decisions about their care. 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. People's needs were assessed and reviewed to ensure care being delivered was up to date and reflective of their needs. People had care plans that provided detailed guidance for staff on the support and care that they needed on a daily basis. Care plans were specific and personalised. People were supported to do things they wanted to do.

People consented to their care and were supported by staff who were trained to fulfil their roles effectively. Staff were aware of the importance of good nutrition to people's health and wellbeing. Medicines were managed safely and people received their medicines.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 9 March 2020). There were two breaches of the regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

At our last inspection we recommended that people’s mental capacity be assessed and recorded, that staff had specialised training and people had information in format they could easily understand. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on any recommendations and made improvements.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well- led which contain those requirements.

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 requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.