Five Star Homecare Leeds Ltd

Updated 31 August 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was conducted by 1 inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 10 July and ended on 19 July. We visited the location’s office/service on 11 July 2023.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service including information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law. We requested feedback from other stakeholders. These included the local authority safeguarding team, commissioning team and Healthwatch Leeds. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. 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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection, we spoke with 4 people who were using the service and 5 relatives of people using the service. We spoke with 6 staff members; this included care workers, the registered manager, deputy manager and compliance manager.

We looked at care records for 3 people using the service including medicine administration records. We looked at training, recruitment and supervision records for staff. We also reviewed various policies and procedures and the quality assurance and monitoring systems of the service.

Updated 31 August 2023

About the service

Five Star Homecare is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults living in their own homes. 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. During our inspection visit, the service was caring for 38 people.

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

People and their relatives were positive about staff and told us the service provided was safe and had a positive impact in their lives.

Overall, medication was managed safely. Most risks to people's care were assessed and actions put in place to manage them. Incidents were analysed and actions taken, when required. Recruitment was managed safely.

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’s healthcare needs were understood and met. The provider kept in close contact with relevant healthcare professionals. Support with nutrition and hydration was provided effectively.

Care plans were detailed, and person centred. Staff knew people well and had the necessary skills, training and support to do their jobs appropriately.

There was a complaints and compliments procedure in place, and this was being followed. People and family members were confident that any concerns or complaints would be listened to and acted upon quickly by the registered manager.

There were several quality assurance measures in place and most had been effective, but we found some examples were this could be further improved. We received positive feedback about the management team being approachable and responsive.

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 requires improvement (published 15 December 2020).

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

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, which will help inform when we next inspect.