Archived: Lotus Home Care Selby

Updated 21 October 2022

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

The inspection was completed by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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

The inspection was announced. We gave a short notice period 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 29 September 2022 and ended on 11 October 2022. We visited the location’s office on 29 September 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with 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 to the registered manager and office staff as part of the inspection. We reviewed a range of records. This included three peoples care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and supervisions and a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

We spoke to four relatives, three people who used the service and four staff members. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at policies and procedures and quality assurance records.

Updated 21 October 2022

About the service

Lotus Home Care Selby is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides support to younger and older adults who may be living with mental health needs, physical disability, or dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people using the service.

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.

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

People’s care needs had been assessed however, when risks had been identified, appropriate risk assessments were not always in place to ensure mitigations had been considered or implemented. We made a recommendation about this. We found no harm had come to the people due to this concern and the provider took immediate action to address this.

Care records were in place to give guidance to staff on how to provide safe care; We found some areas in the care records needed expanding to ensure a good understanding of people’s medical needs and that people’s preference were clearly recorded. The provider was already working on expanding the detail within the care records at the time of the inspection.

People received their medication as prescribed, by staff who were appropriately trained. The registered manager had systems in place to review the quality and safety of the service to ensure a good standard of care was provided.

People were supported by staff who knew them well and who showed kindness and compassion.

Both people and relatives praised the care provided by the service and told us that staff went above and beyond what was expected of them. One relative said, “Since the carers are now in place the whole family is less stressed and relaxed. We are all really grateful of the care and we cannot fault them.”

Staff felt supported in their roles by a management team who listened to them. Staff had the opportunity to be open and honest about any concerns they had, and the registered manager promoted an open culture within the service.

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 and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 4 June 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. 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 improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 1 April 2021. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve the governance of the service.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

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 changed from requires improvement to good. 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 Lotus Home Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.