YourLife(Ponteland)

Updated 8 July 2023

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

The inspection team consisted of 1 inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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 and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own 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 the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 24 April 2023 and ended on 19 May 2023. We visited the location’s office on 5 May 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We reviewed information we received from the local authority, professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used 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 2 people who used the service and 3 relatives to gather feedback on the care and safety of the service.

We spoke to staff, including the registered manager and regional manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people's care records, multiple medication records and maintenance and safety certificates. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including 2 staff recruitment records and quality assurance procedures.

Updated 8 July 2023

About the service

YourLife (Ponteland) provides personal care within an assisted living scheme for older people aged 70 or over. The complex comprises 59 owner occupied apartments. They are for single person or double occupancy. At the time of the inspection there were 9 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.

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

People were supported with their medication and staff were trained in this. Some medicines recording was not in line with current guidance. Medication audits were not effective enough to identify those shortfalls. We have made a recommendation about this.

People had person-centred care plans in place which took into account their preferences. Risks to people and staff had been assessed with appropriate measures in place to help protect people. The registered manager had processes to monitor the safety of people and staff.

People's feedback of the service was positive. People told us staff were kind and attentive. They also told us they felt very safe. They told us the registered manager was approachable and supportive.

Staff were trained and well supported in their roles by the registered manager. Best practice and good care were encouraged with systems in place to share this conduct across the team. Recruitment checks were not always robustly completed. We have made a recommendation about this.

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.

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 15 August 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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 remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for YourLife (Ponteland) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Recommendations

We recommend the provider reviews their recruitment procedures, monitoring of medication and medication auditing procedures to ensure these are more robust. We have found evidence the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

Follow up

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