Willows Home Care Ltd

Updated 27 May 2023

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 completed by 1 inspector.

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. 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. At the time of this inspection the registered manager was on extended leave. The service was being managed by one of the directors.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and people are often out, and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

Inspection activity started on 17 May 2023 and ended on 18 March 2022. We visited the office location on 17 May 2023. The following day we continued to review evidence and spoke with people who used the service and their relatives on the telephone.

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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 1 person and the relatives of 5 people. We spoke with the director who was also the registered manager and 4 members of the care staff team. We reviewed a range of records, this included 3 people's care records and medicine records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were looked at. These included; quality and audit checks, training records, rotas, policies and procedures and feedback from people and their relatives.

Updated 27 May 2023

About the service

Willows Home Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency, based in Preston. It provides personal care to people in their own homes in Preston and the surrounding area.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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. At the time of this inspection 11 people were receiving personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People received compassionate care from committed and caring staff. The registered manager used a system to match people they supported with staff which helped ensure compatibility and consistency. People achieved good outcomes as a result of the care they received.

People were supported to pursue their aspirations and to achieve a quality of life that met their expectations. Staff supported people in person-centred ways to identify their goals and wishes.

People's relatives told us their loved ones felt safe as a result of the care they received from staff. Risks had been managed in a positive way to support people to maintain independence and control. Staff had a good understanding of people’s needs and wishes.

Some aspects of staff recruitment were not completely effective at ensuring staff members were always suitable to work with vulnerable people. Some safety checks had not been made. We have made a recommendation about this that can be seen in the 'safe' section of this report.

The registered manager and staff were kind, caring and respectful. People praised how kind and caring they were. People praised the approachability of the registered manager and staff and could not fault the service.

The provider had invested in the use of a digital care planning system with appropriate accessibility to people and their relatives. Relatives in particular said this provided reassurance and helped ensure their loved ones were safe and the care plan was followed.

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. They had been consulted about their care and support needs. These needs were assessed before they started using the service. Care plans and risk assessments included detailed information and guidance for staff about how people’s needs should be met

The registered manager and staff supported people to have access to healthcare professionals and specialist support and the service worked with external specialists. Professional's views on the service were positive.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 24 April 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

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.