Background to this inspection
Updated
12 December 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. 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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by one inspector and one Expert by Experience, who made phone calls to people using the service and their relatives. 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.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 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. A new branch manager had been appointed recently and they would be applying to register with CQC.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was to ensure managers would be available to speak with us. We also let the service know we would be making phone calls to people and relatives, we had sent letters to those we intended to call. We made phone calls on 3 December and visited the service's offices on 4 December 2019.
What we did before inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection-
We spoke with seven people who used the service and five relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the registered manager, branch manager, deputy manager and care workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality checks, reports and procedures were reviewed. As this was an inspection to check whether the service had maintained its good rating, we checked a smaller number of records.
After the inspection
The manager and registered manager sent us additional information about staff training, supervision and compliance visits by the local authority.
Updated
12 December 2019
About the service
Lotus Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 68 people with different health and care needs at the time of the inspection. The service supports people in their own houses and flats in Barnsley and nearby areas.
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
When we inspected the service, we took into account a balance of what people told us and what we found across the service, to make our judgements. Overall, people were satisfied with their care and spoke well of the staff. However, a recurring theme and clear issue was the reliability of call times and consistency of staff. The provider had an action plan to improve this and we made a recommendation.
Risk management, including infection control, as well as the planning and delivery of safe care, at times needed to be improved. We made a recommendation. However, oversight at local and provider level had identified most of the issues we found. A restructuring of the office and the governance of the service had been implemented to make the improvements needed. This included a focus on ensuring more frequent consultation of people and involving them in the service. A new manager was in post and overseeing the service alongside the existing registered manager. They re-introduced a newsletter, to start improving communication with people.
Person-centred care was underpinned by individualised plans. Although we saw variation in the level of detail, there was also evidence of a good knowledge of people’s life stories and understanding of their needs. We received positive feedback about the outcomes the service helped people to achieve in partnership with other professionals and staff gave us examples of this. Staff felt well supported and were involved in the service through regular meetings. Staff spoke of people with warmth and understanding of the role they played in reducing people’s isolation, maintaining their independence and promoting their quality of life.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 31 May 2017). We checked to see if the service maintained its good rating. We found that overall it had, although we awarded the lower rating of requires improvement for safe.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.