Esteemed Life Care (Preston)

Updated 19 October 2023

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 undertaken by 1 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 and flats and specialist housing.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. The current manager was in the process of applying.

Notice of inspection

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 3 October 2023 and ended on 4 October 2023. We visited the location’s office/service on 3 October 2023.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used all of this information to plan the inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 9 service users and relatives. We spoke with the branch manager and 2 deputy managers who were responsible for the day to day running of the service. We spoke with 7 members of care staff.

We looked at a range of records including 3 people’s risk assessments, care plans and medicine records. We looked at policies and procedures, audits and rotas. We looked at 3 sets of staff recruitment records.

Updated 19 October 2023

Esteemed Life Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care in Preston and the surrounding areas of South Ribble, Ribble Valley, Garstang and Wheeton. At the time of this inspection, the service supported 65 people.

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 were supported by staff that knew them well and were trained to do their jobs. People’s needs and risks were assessed and supported to take their medicines safely. People were protected from the risk of abuse and the risk of mistakes being repeated was minimised due to incident recording processes.

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. Consent to care and treatment had been obtained and where people lacked capacity relevant others had been involved in supporting people's decision making.

Staff took account of people’s wider holistic needs and people were supported to lead healthy lives and received support to eat and drink healthily. Staff were well trained and could work alongside other health professionals to provide effective care.

People were supported by caring and attentive staff. A relative said, “The main carers have bonded really well with [relative] and are friendly.” All the people we spoke with had positive feedback about staff. People said they felt very respected and comfortable in their presence.

Electronic care planning and rota systems were used. Plans were in place so that people and relatives could access care plans and rotas remotely. People told us concerns were addressed and resolved quickly. People were supported to take part in activities in their local community.

We observed a positive culture within the service and people spoke highly of their care and staff. Staff enjoyed their jobs and told us managers were supportive. Managers had a good understanding of risk and monitored outcomes.

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

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 29 April 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Follow up

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