3L Care Limited

Updated 10 May 2019

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. 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:

This inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

Service and service type:

3L Care Limited is registered to provide accommodation and personal care to up to six adults with complex needs. They are located a short distance from the centre of Winsford.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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 24 hours' notice of the inspection visit because it is a small service and we needed to make sure that someone would be available. We also wanted to give the registered manager time to prepare people who use the service for our visit to help reduce disruption to their day.

What we did:

Our plan took into account information the provider had sent us since the last inspection within their provider information return (PIR). We also considered information about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse; and we looked at issues raised in complaints and how the service responded to them. We obtained information from the local authority commissioners and safeguarding team, Healthwatch and other professionals who work with the service. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

People using the service were not able to give us their views. During the inspection we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could bot talk to us. We spoke with two family members, three members of support staff, a nurse and the registered manager.

We looked at three people’s care records and a selection of medication and medication administration records (MARs). We looked at other records including quality monitoring records, recruitment and training records for five staff and records of checks carried out on the premises and equipment.

Updated 10 May 2019

About the service: 3L Care Limited is registered to provide accommodation and personal and nursing care to up to six adults with complex needs such as acquired brain injury, physical and learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection they were at full capacity.

People’s experience of using this service:

A holistic approach had been adopted in the assessing, planning and delivery of people’s care and support. Care plans were extremely detailed and identified intended outcomes for people. Staff provided excellent care and support that was met in a way people preferred and provided consistent and positive outcomes that exceeded expectations. Staff worked hard to provide a consistently better quality of life for people by supporting them to develop in areas such as communication, social interaction, education and independence. Family members spoke highly of the support provided and told us how their relatives had achieved improvements in their own abilities, independence and confidence.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support in the following ways; promotion of choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

People were supported to live enriched lives and do what they chose. Staff encouraged them to be as independent as possible whilst ensuring they remained safe. Risks that people faced were identified and assessed and measures were put in place to manage them and minimise the risk of harm occurring. Staff showed a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities for keeping people safe from harm. Medicines were managed safely and people received medication at the right time. Family members told us they felt extremely confident their relatives were safe.

Positive relationships had been developed between staff and people using the service. There was laughter and warmth within the service and staff spoke positively about the people they supported. Family members spoke positively about the caring attitudes of staff and told us their relatives were well looked after. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and made sure personal information was kept private.

Staff showed a genuine motivation to deliver care in a person-centred way based on people’s preferences. The management team and staff had developed strong, familiar and positive relationships with people and family members. Throughout the inspection the management team and staff were observed to be warm and affectionate towards people and often displayed physical contact that was appropriate and accepting from people. Family members described staff as being extremely caring and that the service ‘went the extra mile’ for people to ensure they lived a good quality life.

The leadership of the service promoted a positive culture that was person centred and inclusive. Family members and staff all described the management team as supportive and approachable. The management team showed a continued desire to improve on the service and worked closely with other agencies and healthcare professionals in order to do this. Effective systems were in place to check on the quality and safety of the service and improvements were made when required.

Rating at last inspection: Good (report published 6 September 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. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

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