Archived: Creative Support East Lancashire Personalised Services

Updated 28 November 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 was planned to check 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 inspection took place on 28 October 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is domiciliary care service and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector who is also the lead inspector for the service.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. This provided us with information and numerical data about the operation of the service.

Before the inspection we gained feedback from health and social care professionals who worked together with the service. We also reviewed the information we held about the service and the provider. This included safeguarding alerts and statutory notifications sent to us by the registered manager about incidents and events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law.

We spoke with a range of people about the service including the person who used the service and their relative. We also spoke to two care staff. In addition, we also spoke with the registered manager and the team leader.

We looked at the care records of one person who used the service, training records, one recruitment record of a new staff member, and records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 28 November 2018

This unannounced inspection took place on 29 October 2018.

Creative Support East Lancashire Personalised Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. Not everyone using Creative Support East Lancashire Personalised Services receives a regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to one person.

This inspection was the first inspection since the service was registered with the Commission on 16 January 2018. The service was previously registered at a different address.

The service was managed by a registered manager. 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.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe receiving support from Creative Support East Lancashire Personalised Services. Feedback from a relative regarding the care quality was positive. There was a safeguarding policy and staff had received safeguarding training.

There were systems and processes for monitoring and assessing quality of the service to ensure people's safety and compliance with regulations.

Risk assessments had been developed to minimise the potential risk of harm to people who used the service.

The staff who worked in this service made sure that people had choice and control over their lives and supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People’s consent to various aspects of their care was considered.

Recruitment checks were carried out to ensure suitable people were employed to work at the service.

Care plans were in place detailing how the person wished to be supported. The person supported, and their relatives were involved in care planning. Their independence was promoted.

Risks of infections has been managed. There was an infection control policy and staff had access to personal protective equipment such as gloves.

The provider had sought people’s opinions on the quality of care provided.

People were supported to undertake activities of their choice in the community. People and their relatives knew how to raise a concern or to make a complaint. The complaints procedure was available, and people said they had not needed to complain.

Staff had received induction and training. There was a policy on staff supervision and appraisals and staff had received regular supervision. However, we found improvements were required to ensure all training was updated regularly. Staff told us there was a positive culture within the service. Staff we spoke with told us they enjoyed their work.