Ella UK Limited

Updated 15 October 2021

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 an 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 houses, flats and specialist housing.

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 to ensure the registered manager was available to support the inspection and to ensure we had prior information to promote safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The notice period also allowed the provider time to start asking people using the service and their relatives, if they would be prepared to speak to us about their experiences. Inspection activity started on 16 September and ended on 24 September, by which time we had sought the views of people, relatives and staff and reviewed all additional information sent following the visit. We conducted the office visit on 17 September 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included notifications sent to us by the home. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to us without delay. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who used the service and eight relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the owner, the registered manager and deputy manager in person. We also sought the views of eight staff via a mixture of telephone interviews and emailed questionnaires.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, audits and training data were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at rotas and call monitoring information, training data, quality assurance records, policies & procedures and meeting minutes.

Updated 15 October 2021

About the service

Ella UK Limited, previously known as Hewitt House is a domiciliary care service based in the Orrell area of Wigan. The service provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes.

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. At the time of our inspection, the service supported 49 people with personal care.

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

People and relatives spoke highly of the service and the care and support received. Words such as ‘brilliant’, ‘fantastic’ and ‘over the moon’ were used when asked to describe the service and the carers who provided support. Without fail, everyone we spoke with told us they would recommend the service to others, and some had already done so. We noted numerous examples of staff going the extra mile to ensure people’s needs and wishes were met.

The service had a clear management system in place. People, relatives and staff were extremely positive about the management of the service and support provided. One staff member told us, “I feel supported and treated like an individual, they respect my needs and my rota is arranged around these.” People told us the service and management team had gone above and beyond their roles to provide support and ensure all their needs were met. We noted lots of examples of excellent partnership working, which benefitted people, the wider community and other care providers. A range of systems and processes were used to monitor the quality and effectiveness of the service. Reflective practice and robust action planning had been used to ensure any areas for improvement were addressed timely.

People told us they felt safe in the company of care staff. Care visits were completed timely, with people informed if staff were running late. Staff remained for the full duration of visits, using any spare time after care had been provided to chat with people. People received their medicines safely, with staff’s competency to administer medicines regularly assessed. Accidents and incidents had been documented, with action taken to prevent a reoccurrence. Staff had received training in safeguarding and knew how to identify and report concerns.

Assessments were completed prior to people’s admission, to find out what support people wanted and ensure the service could meet their needs. 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. Staff received sufficient training and supervision to ensure they could carry out their roles effectively.

Care files contained detailed information about each person and how they wished to be supported. People and relatives were actively involved in ongoing discussions about care and support plans, to ensure these were reflective of changing needs. Where part of their package, people were supported to complete social activities in line with their wishes, albeit the current COVID-19 pandemic had impacted on what people had been able to do. People had been provided with the complaints process but had not needed to use this.

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

Rating at last inspection

The service registered with CQC on the 8 January 2019 and this is the first comprehensive inspection.

Why we inspected

We carried out a focussed inspection of the service in August 2020 after receiving concerns about risk management, medicines management, recruitment, induction and staff training. We only looked at the key questions safe, effective and well-led during that inspection. We found no evidence to substantiate the allegations and rated each key question good. However, we could not provide an overall rating, as we did not look at all five key questions. This was a planned comprehensive inspection to enable us to provide an overall rating for the service.

You can read the report from the focussed inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Ella UK Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.