Limitless Care Ltd

Updated 28 February 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 is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. We also needed to check with people or their legal representatives whether they would be happy for us to visit them at home. Inspection activity started on 20 February 2020 and ended on 21 February 2020. We visited the office location on both dates.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority. The provider had not been asked to completed a Provider Information Return (PIR) before our inspection. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited people in their own homes and spoke with two people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the four members of staff working at the service, including two care staff and the providers, who are also the registered manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and quality assurance procedures, were reviewed.

Updated 28 February 2020

About the service

Limitless Care Limited is a small, family-run domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own houses and flats in Huddersfield and surrounding areas. Six people of different ages were using the service at the time of the inspection.

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

People’s experience of using the service was very positive. People and relatives praised the personal touch and supportive approach this small team adopted in their care. Comments included, “You could not meet a nicer couple of people”, “They are amazing” and “When Limitless stepped in, I was struggling, they rescued me.”

Very positive examples of care had been achieved by the service. The provider was dedicated to making a difference for people and their relatives, to welcome and respect their diversity and support people’s independence for as long as possible. To help the service going forward to exceed the characteristics of good with consistency, some development was needed. Particularly in a growing service, some record-keeping and governance systems needed to be developed. We made a recommendation regarding risk assessments and related record-keeping.

People were supported by a reliable, consistent staff team that knew their needs well. Care plans supported this and explained people’s needs, preferences and backgrounds. We considered that at times staff’s good person-centred knowledge could be reflected in more detail in care plans.

Through current hands-on involvement of managers in peoples’ care and working in a small team, communication with people, relatives and staff was well supported and effective. People and relatives told us they had no reason to complain and that managers had resolved any issues they had raised.

Staff worked effectively in partnership with people, relatives and other professionals to achieve good outcomes. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported /did 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

This service was registered with us on 22 February 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned visit in line with our inspection programme.

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.