Pebble Healthcare

Updated 17 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to people living in their own homes.

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. At the time of this inspection the registered manager was on extended leave. The service was being managed by one of the directors.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and people are often out, and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

Inspection activity started on 8 March 2022 and ended on 15 March 2022. We visited the office location on 8 March 2022. We continued to review evidence and spoke with people who used the service, or their relatives and staff, on the telephone, over the following few days.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who received a service and the relatives of three people. We spoke with the director who was covering for the registered manager and four further members of support staff. We reviewed a range of records, this included two people's care records and medicine records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were looked at, these included; quality and audit checks, training records, rotas, team meeting minutes, policies and procedures, feedback from people supported and their relatives.

Updated 17 August 2022

About the service

Pebble Healthcare is a domiciliary care agency, based in Carnforth, providing personal care to people in their own homes in north Lancashire and Cumbria.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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 this inspection 17 people were receiving personal care.

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

People received exceptionally compassionate care from committed and caring staff. People achieved better outcomes as a result of the care they received.

People were supported above and beyond to pursue their aspirations and to achieve a quality of life beyond their expectations. Staff supported people in very person-centred ways to identify their goals and wishes and to fulfill them.

People told us they felt safe as a result of the care they received from staff. Staff had a good understanding of people’s needs and wishes. Risks had been managed in positive way to support people to maintain maximum independence and control.

Staff had been recruited safely and received appropriate training and information about people's needs which helped ensure they could support people effectively. People praised the staff, who they found to be punctual, knowledgeable and skilled.

The management team and staff were kind, caring and respectful. People praised how kind the staff and management team were. The provider used a system to match people supported with staff which helped ensure compatibility and consistency.

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.

The service was well managed by a skilled and dedicated management team. People praised the approachability of the managers and could not fault the service.

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 19 April 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was the first inspection for this service which registered on 19 April 2019.

We undertook this inspection at the same time as CQC inspected a range of urgent and emergency care services in Lancashire. To understand the experience of social care providers and people who use social care services, we asked a range of questions in relation to accessing urgent and emergency care. The responses we received have been used to inform and support system wide feedback

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.