YourLife (Alresford)

Updated 28 March 2023

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

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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. However, they had left the service in May 2020 and had not deregistered. There had been another registered manager who left the service and deregistered in June 2022. A manager was in post since September 2022 and was in the process of applying to register.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 18 January 2023 and ended on 24 January 2023. We visited the location’s office on 19 and 23 January 2023.

What we did before the inspection

To plan our inspection we reviewed information we had received about the service and 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.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who used the serviced and 3 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 4 members of staff including the manager and 3 care staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people’s care records, 5 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision and a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 28 March 2023

About the service

Yourlife (Alresford) provides care and support to people living in ‘extra care’ housing. People using the service live in their own flats within a shared building containing 57 flats. The building also houses the offices used by the manager and staff.

Not everyone living in the flats 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 this inspection 4 people received personal care from Yourlife (Alresford) staff.

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

Although people told us they felt safe, we identified a lack of detailed guidance for staff on how to provide safe care to people. The manager took prompt action to address this. Risks were mitigated by a well-trained, knowledgeable staff team and people we spoke to confirmed this. 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 and their relatives confirmed there were enough staff to meet people’s needs and confirmed calls were never missed. The provider was flexible with call times which promoted people’s choices and enabled them full control of their lives.

We found recruitment processes were not as robust as they could have been. The manager took prompt action to address this. There were systems and processes in place to record, assess and analyse accidents and incidents. However, these were not always robust. The manager took action to address this.

Quality assurance systems and processes were in place for monitoring, assessing and improving the quality of care provided to people who use the service. However, they had not consistently identified the areas of improvement required, which we found on inspection. This included; recruitment, person centred management plans for risks and medicines. The manager took immediate action to address the concerns.

People we spoke to thought staff had the right skills to care for them and were confident in their abilities. An induction package was in place and ongoing training and supervision was provided.

People told us they were cared for by staff who were kind and caring and treated them with dignity and respect, while supporting them to be as independent as possible. People and staff told us they felt listened to and were kept updated by the management team.

The management team were open and transparent and understood their regulatory responsibilities. People and their family members told us the service was well led and they would recommend Yourlife (Alresford) to others.

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 May 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

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