Background to this inspection
Updated
22 June 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 two inspectors.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own apartments within Lancer House.
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
This inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 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.
Inspection activity started on 20 May 2021 and ended on 25 May 2021. We visited the office location on 20 May 2021.
What we did before the inspection
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 reviewed information we held about the service such as safeguarding concerns and information received from the general public.
We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with one person who used the service and one person’s relative, about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager, duty manager, and care and support workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included one person’s care records and 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 procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.
Updated
22 June 2021
About the service
Your Life (Colchester) is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care and support to people living in Lancer House. People can also arrange personal care with external providers if preferred. The service supported two people at the time of the inspection.
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’s care and support needs were met by staff who knew them well and enjoyed working with them. Staff had been safely recruited and had received training in safeguarding, protecting people from abuse. Staff knew how to recognise abuse and report concerns. Staff followed good practice
guidelines to prevent the spread of infection and gave people their medicines safely. There were systems in place to learn lessons when things went wrong.
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. Peoples communication needs had been assessed and recorded in their care plans. These detailed the persons preferred method of communication and aids or equipment.
People and their relatives were involved in their own care and support planning. This provided guidance for staff to enable them to provide the care and support people have agreed was appropriate to them. Staff promoted people’s independence and spent time getting to know people’s specific needs and wishes. People’s privacy and dignity was respected.
The registered manager carried out regular checks on the quality and safety of the service and understood their regulatory responsibilities. No complaints or concerns had been reported before the inspection. People and their relatives told us, “If I had an issue, I feel I could speak to the registered manager and they would listen.”
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we inspected
This service was registered with us on 13 December 2019 and this is the first inspection.
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.