Archived: Westmorland Homecare Temporary Office

Westmorland Homecare Temporary Office provides personal care to people in their own homes in Kendal, South Lakeland and the surrounding areas. 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. At the time of our inspection 91 people were receiving personal care.

The service was previously located at another address in Kendal. The provider temporarily relocated to a new office while building work was carried out on their main office.

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

People were exceptionally safe. The provider had extremely robust and innovative systems which made people feel very safe. The staff were exceptionally well-trained in protecting people from abuse. Risks were managed creatively to keep people safe and promote their quality of life. People and their families were involved in decisions about their safety to the maximum possible extent and people’s choices were respected. There were always enough staff to support people. People were actively involved in decisions about who would provide their care and who the company employed. Medicines were very well managed and people experienced positive outcomes which took account of their wishes and improved the quality of their lives. People were very well protected from the risk of infection, including during the Coronavirus pandemic.

People experienced very positive outcomes because they were supported by staff who were exceedingly well trained and exceptionally skilled. There was a truly holistic approach to assessing, planning and delivering care. People’s care was planned and delivered in line with best practice. The provider used creative and innovative means to support people to maintain a balanced diet and to drink enough to maintain good health. The registered manager had excellent links with local healthcare services. The staff were proactive at identifying people’s health needs and ensuring they had timely access to appropriate healthcare support. The registered manager was very knowledgeable about how to protect people’s rights, especially people who did not have capacity to make their own decisions. 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 were exceptionally complimentary about how caring the staff were. The staff valued the people they cared for. They routinely ‘went the extra mile’ to enhance people’s lives. The provider carefully matched people with staff that had similar interests and personalities. This supported people to build strong, meaningful and trusting relationships with the staff. The staff and registered manager supported people to express their views about what was important to them and people received care in a way that took account of their wishes and preferences. The staff respected people’s privacy and promoted their dignity and independence. They supported people to regain skills and confidence to carry out tasks themselves. People’s human rights, equality and diversity were very important to the service. The staff were supported to understand their responsibilities and to challenge any poor practice they identified.

The service was exceptionally person-centred and responsive to people’s needs. The staff thoroughly explored people’s background and life history to understand what was important to them and how they wanted their care delivered. People’s care was planned and provided to enhance their lives. People felt consulted, listened to and valued. The staff were extremely skilled in understanding and respecting people’s diversity, values and beliefs. The provider took a key role in the local community and found innovative ways to combat social isolation. The staff provided outstanding care to people and their families at the end of life. The staff were trained to have meaningful conversations with people about their end of life care and to explore and resolve any concerns they had. The provider had an effective procedure for receiving and managing complaints about the service.

People were extremely positive about the way the company was led and said the this was exceptional and distinctive. Everyone we spoke with said they would recommend the service. One person told us, “Tell them how fabulous they are and get other care companies to come and see how it’s done.” The provider worked collaboratively with other agencies to improve care outcomes for people. The registered manager established positive relationships with local and specialist services to ensure people received outstanding care. People who used the service, their families and the staff were asked for their views and the provider actively tried to involve people to develop high-quality practice and to ensure the continuous improvement of the service. The provider had a strong governance framework to assess and continuously improve the quality of the service.

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 13/03/2019 and this is the first inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.