Allura Care Ltd

Updated 22 March 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

1 inspector conducted the inspection.

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 3 March 2023 and ended on 15 March 2023. We visited the location’s office on 8 March 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included speaking with a relative of a person who uses the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager and we reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people's care and risk management plans, medicines support and care records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision and a variety of records relating to the management of the service. We spoke with 2 relatives of who use the people, 2 staff and 2 professionals who have recently worked with the service.

Updated 22 March 2023

About the service

Allura Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the agency was providing up to 24 hour care and support to 3 older people living physical needs and dementia.

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

Relatives spoke well of people’s care and how staff treated them. A relative said, “They've been nothing but good since the day they have been involved.”

However, the systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and make improvements when required had not always been effective. People's care plans were not always up to date, sufficiently personalised or reflective of the care and support people received. The provider had not always maintained accurate and complete records of people's care, incidents or staffing.

Staff who knew people well provided them with consistent care and support. Staff supported people to avoid risks of harm and abuse and the provider worked with other agencies to promote this. There were arrangements in place for preventing and controlling infection. Staff supported people with their medicines safely.

Staff felt supported and listened to. However, we have made a recommendation about conducting staff supervisions.

Relatives felt able to raise issues or make complaints and that they would be listened and responded to. Relatives and staff felt involved in the service and spoke well of the registered manager and how they led the service. The registered manager audited the service and checked on people's care regularly.

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 21 December 2021). 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 the provider remained in breach of regulations. The service remains rated requires improvement. At our last inspection we recommended that the provider consider current guidance on the provision of staffing. At this inspection we found they acted on this and addressed this.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced focused inspection of this service on 18 November 2021 and found breaches of legal requirements. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve in relation to safe care and treatment, person centred care and good governance. We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. As such, this report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Responsive and Well-led.

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 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 Allura Care Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to person centred care and the good governance of the service. We have made a recommendation about staff supervision. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.