Allura Care Ltd

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.

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 24 hour care and support to two older people living physical and dementia needs.

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

Relatives spoke positively about people’s care experiences and the staff who worked with them. They found staff were caring and treated people well. A relative commented, “They’re part of the family.”

However, systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and make improvements when required had not always been effective. Medicines support was not always managed safely. People’s care plans were not up to date, sufficiently personalised or reflective of the care and support people received. The provider did not maintain accurate and complete records of people’s care or of staff employment to demonstrate that safe recruitment procedures had always been followed.

People were consistently supported by staff they were familiar with and who knew their care needs and preferences. We have made recommendations regarding care workers being entitled to sufficient uninterrupted time off between long working hours and about recruitment procedures. People were supported to avoid risks of harm and abuse. There were arrangements in place for preventing and controlling infection.

Staff received supervision and training and they felt supported by the registered manager and office staff who were always available to them. Staff supported people with their choices of meals and drinks and to access healthcare services if needed.

Relatives told us they felt people were safe and staff promoted their dignity, privacy and independence. Relatives felt able to raise issues or making complaints and that they would be listened and responded to.

Relatives and staff felt involved in the service. They spoke highly of the registered manager and how they managed the service. The management audited the service and checked on people’s care regularly.

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.

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 May 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

We inspected this service in line with our inspection methodology based on the date of registration.

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 discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, person centred care, and the good governance of the service.

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 for 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 return to visit as per our inspection methodology or sooner if we receive any concerning information.