23 May 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Lotus Home Care Wakefield is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 115 people, this included older people, people living with dementia and physical disabilities.
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
Risks to people’s safety were not always adequately assessed. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs safely, but not always to achieve consistency for people.
People and their relatives consistently told us they received safe care. Staff knew how to recognise and report abuse. Staff were trained to administer medicines safely and were assessed regularly to make sure they were competent. People were protected from the risk of infection and they told us staff wore PPE in their homes.
Staff received regular supervisions and ongoing training, to ensure they had the right knowledge to support people effectively. 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. People spoke positively about the care they received from staff.
The provider regularly sought feedback from people and input from staff, which was analysed by the registered manager in order to continuously drive improvement. The provider had robust governance arrangements in place, to assess the quality of the service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 29 September 2021). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced focused inspection of this service on 16 March 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found in respect of safe care and treatment, good governance and staffing. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
We undertook this focused inspection to check to check whether the Warning Notices we previously served in relation to Regulations 12 and 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 had been met and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.
At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations 17 and 18. However, the provider remained in breach of regulation 12.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate to requires improvement. 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 Lotus Home Care Wakefield on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.
We have identified a breach in relation to safe care and treatment at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.