Esteem Care Leeds Limited

Updated 18 December 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 checked 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 9, 15 and 28 November 2018 and was announced.

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the registered manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

Inspection site visit activity started on 9 November 2018 and ended on 15 November 2018. We visited the office location to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We also visited one person in their home on 15 November 2018. We contacted staff, people and their relatives by telephone on 28 November 2018.

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

We did not ask the service to complete a Provider Information Return before this inspection. 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.

Before the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. This included notifications the provider had sent us about events or incidents that occurred and which affected their service or the people who used it. We contacted the local authority adult safeguarding and quality monitoring team as well as local Healthwatch England, the consumer champion for health and social care, to ask if they had any information to share. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with three people who used the service and five relatives for their feedback. We also visited one person in their home. We spoke with the registered manager and six members of staff. We looked at seven people's care plans, risk assessments, daily notes and medication administration records. We reviewed four staff's recruitment records, as well as training, supervision and appraisal records for the staff team, and meeting minutes, audits and a selection of other records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 18 December 2018

This inspection took place on 9, 15 and 28 November 2018 and was announced.

At our last inspection in September 2017, we rated the service as requires improvement. The key questions safe and well led were rated Requires Improvement. Records relating to medicines management were not always accurate and quality assurance systems were not fully embedded. At this inspection, we found the provider had made the necessary improvements.

Vive UK Social Care is a domiciliary care agency which is based close to the city centre of Leeds. The agency provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes, including care to people with physical or learning disabilities, dementia or people who require end of life care. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 73 people.

Not everyone using Vive UK Social Care receives 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.

The service had 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.

The registered manager had systems in place to monitor the quality of the care provided and make improvements to the quality and safety of the service. These included audits on areas covering care records and medication records.

Staff worked well together and felt supported by the management team, which promoted a culture for staff to provide person centred care.

Staff were caring, kind and treated people with respect. People were listened to and were involved in their care and what they did on a day to day basis. People's right to privacy was maintained by the actions and care given by staff members.

A detailed assessment was carried out to assess people's needs and preferences prior to them receiving a service. People's personal and health care needs were met and detailed care records guided staff in how to do this. Staff followed the advice health care professionals gave them. Staff had guidance if they needed to provide people with end of life care.

Staff knew how to respond to possible harm and how to reduce risks to people. Lessons were learnt about accidents and incidents and these were shared with staff members to ensure changes were made to staff practice or the environment, to reduce further occurrences.

Medicines were administered as prescribed and staff had guidance to do this safely. Infection control risks were reduced through the use of protective equipment.

People's views were sought and changes made if this was needed. A complaints system was in place and there was information so people knew who to speak with if they had concerns.

There were enough skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of people who used the service. Recruitment checks were completed on new staff to ensure they were suitable to support people who used the service. A comprehensive induction and training programme was completed by all staff.

Where required, people were supported to have sufficient to eat and drink and their health needs were regularly monitored.

Staff understood their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. People were involved in making every day decisions and choices about how they wanted to live their lives.

The provider did not have a policy in place regarding the Accessible Information Standard. We have made a recommendation about this.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.