Archived: Lifecarers West Oxfordshire

Updated 26 January 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of one 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:

Lifecarers West Oxfordshire are a domiciliary care agency (DCA). The service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. There was a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure the management would be in the office. On the first day of the inspection, 8 January 2019 we contacted the people and relatives. We visited the office on 10 January 2019 to see the registered manager, office staff and to look at the records.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and the service provider. The registered provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.

We contacted six people and four relatives to gather their views about the support received. During the office site visit we looked at records, which included three people’s care and medicines records. We checked recruitment, training and supervision records for three staff. We also looked at a range of records about how the service was managed. We also spoke with the registered manager, the care manager and three care workers. After our site visit we contacted eight external health and social care professionals to obtain their views about the service.

Updated 26 January 2019

About the service:

Lifecarers West Oxfordshire are a domiciliary care agency (DCA). The service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. At the time of our inspection the service supported 24 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they received safe care. People were supported by consistent and suitably trained staff. People received support to take their medicines safely and as prescribed. Risks to people’s well-being and environmental safety were recorded and updated when the circumstances changed. The lessons were learnt where appropriate to improve the service further.

People’s rights to make their own decisions were respected. People were supported to access health services if needed. People’s dietary needs were assessed and where required people were supported with their meals.

People received caring and compassionate support from the staff. The management team led by example and staff referred to people in a caring way. People were complimentary about staff and about positive, caring relationships they were able to form with the staff. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and people were supported to be as independent as possible.

People received support that met their needs and the service remained flexible to people’s needs. People knew how to complain and told us where they raised concerns the management acted promptly to address these. No people received end of life support at the time of our inspection.

The service was managed by the new registered manager who had a clear vision on the quality they wanted to provide. There was a clear staffing structure and staff were aware of their roles and responsibilities. The senior team had a number of quality assurance systems in place and there was a focus on further development. The service worked well with other partners, organisations and commissioners.

More information is in Detailed Findings below.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (report published 7 July 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

We will monitor all intelligence received about the service to inform the assessment of the risk profile of the service and to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.