Livingwell Care - 301 Vicarage Road

Updated 19 March 2019

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

Inspection team:

One adult social care inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type:

Livingwell Care - 301 Vicarage Road is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to adults and children.

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:

We gave the service three days’ notice of the inspection site visit because we needed to be sure that they would be in. Inspection site visit activity started on 26 February. We visited the office location on the same day to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We telephoned staff and clients after we had left the office on the same day.

What we did:

Before our inspection, we checked the information we held about Livingwell Care - 301 Vicarage Road. This included notifications the registered manager sent us about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people who received support.

We also contacted the commissioning, safeguarding and contracts departments at Birmingham County Council. This helped us to gain a balanced overview of what people experienced when they received support from Livingwell Care - 301 Vicarage Road. We also contacted Healthwatch Birmingham. Healthwatch is the local consumer champion for health and social care services. They give consumers a voice by collecting their views, concerns and compliments through their engagement work. All the information gathered before our inspection went into completing a planning document that guides the inspection. The planning document allows key lines of enquiry to be investigated focusing on any current concerns, areas of risk and good or outstanding practice.

During this inspection, we spoke with the registered manager, assistant manager, three people who received support, one relative and three carers. We looked at the care records of three people, recruitment and training records of four staff members, records relating to the administration of medicines and the management of the service.

We looked at what quality audit tools and data management systems the registered manager used. We reviewed past and present staff rotas, focusing on how staff provided care within a geographical area. We looked at how many visits a staff member had completed per day and if the registered manager ensured staff had enough time to travel between visits. We looked at the continuity of support people received and discussed how the management team monitored how long staff stayed on each visit.

We used all the information gathered to inform our judgements about the fundamental standards of quality and safety of the service delivered by Livingwell Care - 301 Vicarage Road.

Updated 19 March 2019

About the service: Livingwell Care - 301 Vicarage Road is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to adults and children. At the time of the inspection 27 people received personal care support from the service. The office is based in Kings Heath Birmingham. The service provides care and support varying from short visits to 24 hours a day support.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they felt safe being supported by Livingwell Care - 301 Vicarage Road. People told us they were made safe by the care they received. Staff told us they had appropriate training, knowledge and support to keep people safe. Staff could tell us how they managed risk and behaviours that challenge that respected the person and supported their dignity.

People and their relatives we spoke with felt confident in the management. They told us there was a caring culture within the service and staffing levels were appropriate.

We looked at how the management team planned their rotas. Staff were given travelling time between each person they visited. People told us they always received their full allocated visit times.

Staff told us they had regular clients and positive relationships had been built. One staff member told us, “When [person] is living in the moment and remembers me, it makes my day.”

It was clear staff morale was good and everyone was committed to ensuring people received care and support based on their preferences and life choices. The registered manager told us the low staff turnover allowed positive relationships to be built with people receiving support and strong teamwork to develop. People who used the service expressed positive views on how they were treated by staff.

Care plans had been developed with people and their relatives being involved throughout the process. These were regularly reviewed to reflect people’s current needs. The management of risk was included within the care plan to minimise the likelihood of preventable harm occurring.

Staff files we looked at evidenced the registered manager used the same safe recruitment procedures we found at our last inspection. Staff told us training was ongoing and they were supported to gain vocational qualifications in health and social care.

There was a complaints procedure which was made available to people and their family. People we spoke with told us they were happy with the support they received.

The service continued to have good oversight of relevant procedures through monitoring and auditing to ensure people received effective support and the service was well led.

The registered manager used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. These included questionnaires to seek their views about the service provided. We noted activities were provided as part of the care people received. Staff told us they supported people to activities that enhanced their physical and mental wellbeing.

The service engaged with outside agencies to ensure people received timely healthcare support. The management team engaged with other agencies to gain updates on legislation, best practice and learn from other providers experiences.

More information in the full report.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (Report published 16 April 2016)

Why we inspected:

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

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme or if any issues or concerns are identified.

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