Archived: Ark Home Healthcare Leeds

Updated 13 January 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This was a comprehensive inspection. The inspection took place on 6 and 7 November 2017. The provider was given 48 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service providing support to people in their own homes. We needed to be sure that someone would be available at the office.

This inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector, one specialist advisor who had experience in safeguarding, one assistant inspector and two experts by experience. The experts by experience had experience of caring for a person with dementia and completed telephone interviews on the 7 November 2017. The inspector also carried out visits to people’s homes on the 7 November 2017.

Before this inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. This included statutory notifications received from the provider and the Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a form we asked the provider to complete prior to our visit which gives us some key information about the service, including what the service does well, what the service could do better and improvements they plan to make.

Statutory notifications are notifications of certain events and incidents that the provider has to inform the CQC by law. We used this information to help plan the inspection. We also contacted the local authority safeguarding team and Healthwatch.

During the inspection we spoke with 17 people who used the service, 10 relatives, the manager, and eight staff. We looked at a range of records including six staff files relating to recruitment, supervision, appraisal and training. We also looked at nine people's care records which included care planning documentation and daily records. We viewed records relating to the management of the service and a wide variety of policies and procedures.

Updated 13 January 2018

This inspection took place on 6 and 7 November 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours' notice because the location provides domiciliary care services and we needed to be sure that someone would be in the office. We contacted people who used the service and staff by telephone on 7 November 2017 to ask for their views. We also visited people in their homes on the 7 November 2017 to ask for their views.

Ark Home Healthcare Leeds is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to people in their own homes within the Leeds area. Ark Home Healthcare Leeds was registered with CQC in December 2016 and this was the first inspection of the service.

The service provides care for people living with Dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions, physical disabilities and substance misuse problems for people under and over the age of 65. At the time of our inspection there were 292 people using this service.

The service had a manager who was in the process of applying to the CQC for registration. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We found medicines were administered safely but administration was not always recorded correctly. Staff signatures to confirm they had supported people to take their medicines and other information written on the Medicines Administration Record Sheets (MARs) were not always recorded.

Regular audits had recently been introduced but prior to this there had been no consistency in monitoring and guiding improvements to the service being provided.

Some people who used the service did not have capacity to make decisions. We found people's care records did included capacity assessments and best interest forms however, not all relevant health professionals had been documented on the forms to be contacted if a best interest decision was needed.

People told us they felt safe when being supported by staff. Staff had a clear understanding of the relevant policies and procedures relating to safeguarding and whistleblowing.

Risk assessments were completed and reviewed to support people with specific needs to avoid any harm.

Staffing levels were adequate to meet people's needs. Staff were recruited in line with the providers policy, inductions took place and staff received appropriate training.

People were supported with their nutritional and fluid intake. People were also supported with their health needs.

People using the service and staff had positive relationships and people told us they felt well cared for.

People were encouraged to be independent and make choices regarding their care. Staff respected people's privacy and dignity when in their home.

Care plans were detailed and included relevant information such as initial assessments of need and instructions for staff to follow. People received personalised care which responded to their specific needs and preferences. Not all care plans had been updated to the new personalised planning however, the manager had an action plan for this and we saw this had been started.

Complaints had been responded to and appropriate outcomes had been recorded. Incident and

accidents were managed and people using the service told us they felt confident to discuss any concerns with the provider. Lessons learnt were implemented to ensure practice was improved when incidents occurred.

All of the people we spoke with said the manager was approachable, supportive and listened to others.

Staff meetings took place and staff were encouraged to discuss proposed improvements for the service.

The manager provided clear visions for the future of the service and how improvements could be implemented.

Surveys were provided to people using the service, their relatives and staff to monitor the quality of the care provided.