Your Care

Updated 30 June 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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 houses and flats.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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 our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced. Inspection activity started on 26 May 2022 and ended on 6 June 2022. We visited the location’s office location on 26 May 2022 and 6 June 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority, 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 annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with one person that uses the service and five relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, care manager and eight staff members. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three 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.

Updated 30 June 2022

About the service

Your Care is a domiciliary care agency. The service provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 27 people using the service. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. In this service, the Care Quality Commission can only inspect the service received by people who get support with personal care. This includes help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people receive such support, we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

People told us they were happy with the service provided by Your Care. However, we identified that although staff knew how best to support people, detailed guidance on how to support people with healthcare conditions was not always in place. We highlighted this to the registered manager, and this was implemented following our inspection.

People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff. The registered manager confirmed that there had never been a missed call, and when staffing shortages occurred, they completed care calls to ensure people’s needs were met. When accidents and incidents occurred these were documented, and action was taken to ensure people had access to the healthcare support they needed.

Staff showed a good understanding of safeguarding, and supported people to take the medicines safely. All the people and relatives we spoke with told us staff wore appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when supporting them.

People were supported by a staff team who knew people well and had received the training and support to care for them. People were supported to maintain a balanced diet, and to access external healthcare support to ensure they remained as healthy as possible. This included GPs, district nurses and community mental health nurses.

People told us they were treated with kindness and compassion. People and their relatives gave positive feedback on the service Your Care provided. Staff encouraged people to be independent, to do what they were able to for themselves, and supported them to ensure they were at the centre of the care provided.

People were provided with personalised care to meet their needs. This included adapting communication systems with each individual and supporting people to access information in a way that was meaningful to them. People told us they were happy with the care provided and knew how to raise concerns if and when they needed to.

There were systems and processes in place to review and improve the quality of the service. People and staff told us there was a positive culture within the service. Staff worked with external agencies to ensure people received the care and support they needed.

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.

Although the service was not providing care to anyone with a learning disability, we expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The registered manager told us they would ensure they could meet the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture should they provide care to an autistic person or someone with a learning disability.

Right support:

Model of care and setting maximised people’s choice, control and independence;

People told us they were actively involved in their care, and were encouraged to be as independent as possible.

Right care:

Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights;

Care was person centred and focused on upholding people’s human rights. Staff told us the importance of ensuring people had privacy and were treated with dignity.

Right culture:

Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services led confident, inclusive and empowered lives;

There was a positive culture within the service, which empowered people to live the best lives possible. Staff had demonstrated the values of the service, when concerns were raised, and were confident in the registered manager dealing with all issues in a proactive way.

For more information, please read the detailed findings section of this report. If you are reading this as a separate summary, the full report can be found on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we inspected

We registered this service on 17 January 2020 and this was the first inspection.

Follow up

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