Lincolnshire Quality Care

Updated 30 June 2021

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 team consisted of one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

The service had a manager registered with the 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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 15 June 2021. We visited the office location on 15 June 2021. We sought feedback from relatives, people using the service and staff on 16 June 2021 and 17 June 2021.

What we did before the 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. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We looked at the information we had requested from the provider prior to the inspection and this information was used as part of the inspection plan.

During the inspection

We spoke with eight people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including the provider, care manager, and six care workers. We also spoke to three professionals who work in partnership with the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people's care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We received further evidence from the registered manager via email to verify information they told us during the inspection. We continued to seek feedback from people using the service and staff.

Updated 30 June 2021

Lincolnshire Quality Care is a domiciliary care agency that supports people to live in their own homes. The agency provides home care services within North East Lincolnshire to people who may be living with dementia, a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, a physical disability, sensory impairment or mental health needs. At the time of inspection, it was providing support to approximately 98 people over the age of 18. People using the service lived in their own homes in the community.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. Care Quality Commission 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 received care and support at a time and duration that met their needs. There were enough staff with appropriate skills to safely support each person. One person told us, "I do get different [Care] staff but they all know me. I know I can trust them to arrive, every day."

Care and support was tailored to people's need as most staff knew people well. There were some shortfalls within care records to identify people's assessed needs. We made a recommendation about updating people's risk assessments to reflect people's care plans on the new electronic care planning system.

Medicine systems were in place, however there was no 'as and when required' (PRN) medicine guidance to support staff with administration. We made a recommendation to implement PRN protocols to support staff with decision making when 'as and when required' medicines were needed.

Staff members had been recruited safely and the provider had robust recruitment processes and policies.

Staff received safeguarding training and had a good understanding of the principals involved in acting when abuse was suspected.

People's needs were met through assessments and support planning. The service worked with relatives, health and social care professionals to achieve positive outcomes for people. Staff and management had good knowledge and skills; this ensured people's needs were met.

Processes to assess and check the quality and safety of the service were completed. The registered manager and operations manager carried out audits and quality monitoring reports. These identified areas of the service that required improvement and these actions were carried out.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

Model of care and setting maximises people's choice, control and independence

Right care:

Care is person-centred and promotes people's dignity, privacy and human rights

Right culture:

The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives

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 19 June 2018).

Why we inspected

This was a planned focused inspection. This report only covers our findings in relation to the review of the key questions Safe and Well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key

questions. We therefore did not inspect them. The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has remained the same. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Lincolnshire Quality Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.