Leah Care Also known as Leah Care Horsham and Crawley

Leah Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. On the day of the inspection the service was supporting 21 people with a range of health and social care needs, such as people with a physical disability, sensory impairment or people living with dementia. Support was tailored according to people’s assessed needs within the context of people’s individual preferences and lifestyles to help people to live and maintain independent lives and remain in their homes. Not everyone using Leah Care Limited receives the 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.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were happy with the care they received and felt relaxed with staff, they told us they were treated with kindness. People said they felt safe, were well supported and there were sufficient staff to care for them. One person told us, “The carers always spend the right amount of time and there is no element of rush. We have used the service for seven weeks and have had no complaints whatsoever. I have a very good relationship with the carers and management alike. The manager oversees some of my care whilst the carers are caring for me. Only rarely have the carers been late, but the manager is very informative.”

People’s independence was promoted and they told us their needs were met. People had a regular team of care staff who arrived on time and knew them well. One person told us, “I feel very confident with the carers and can rely and depend on them all the times, almost like a daughter to her mother. They talk to me and often inform me with any news updates. I use them as a connection with the outside world, as I like to know what’s going on. They sign and update the book when they leave every visit. They treat me with respect and dignity without any question. I’ve used Leah Care for four months and never had any complaints.”

People felt they were offered choice in the way their care was delivered and they had no concerns around their dignity and privacy in their own homes being respected. One person told us, “The personalities of the carers are excellent. They all speak plain English which is easy to understand. Even if the carers are complete with my care and still have a little extra time, they even vacuum my house before leaving. I’m very well respected. I really like the personality of the carers, for example, they are always very cheerful and very committed to keeping me happy.”

Staff had received essential training and feedback from people indicated that they knew the best way to care for people in line with their needs and preferences. 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.

The provider had systems of quality assurance to measure and monitor the standard of the service and drive improvement. These systems also supported people to stay safe by assessing and mitigating risks, ensuring that people were cared for in a person-centred way and that the provider learned from any mistakes.

People told us they thought the service was well managed and they received high quality care that met their needs and improved their wellbeing from dedicated and enthusiastic staff. A relative told us, “Any decisions regarding [my relative’s] care, has been totally down to my [relative’s] request which has been granted really well by the organisation. There’s never been any issues with a shortage of staff and to be honest we are spoilt with the service we get. The carers are extremely effective with my [relative].”

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 20 November 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was the first inspection for this service.

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.