EnhanceAble Living

Updated 8 June 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

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

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

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. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection

We spoke in person with the registered manager. We contacted four people and their relatives, seven staff and one health care professional, to get their experience and views about the care provided. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and medicine records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment, training and staff supervision. We checked a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the agency to validate evidence found. We requested additional evidence to be sent to us after our inspection. This included staff and training information, and audits. We received the information which was used as part of our inspection.

Updated 8 June 2021

About the service

EnhanceAble Living is a domiciliary care agency. It provides a personal care support service to people in their own homes. At the time of inspection, four people were receiving support with personal care from this service.

The Care Quality Commission (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 consider any wider social care provided.

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

At the last inspection monitoring and audit systems did not always identify issues in relation to the quality of care provided through keeping up to date records, including recruitment, medicines administration and spot checks.

This was a breach of regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

At this inspection monitoring and audit systems identified issues in relation to the quality of care provided by keeping up to date records, including recruitment, medicines administration and spot checks and action taken was clear.

The agency management and leadership were transparent and there was an open culture that was honest and positive. The statement of purpose clearly defined the agency vision and values, that staff understood and followed. Areas of responsibility and accountability were made clear to staff and they were willing to take responsibility and report any concerns they may have, when needed. The agency reviewed service quality and made changes to improve the care and support people received. This was in a way that best suited people. The agency had well-established working partnerships that promoted people’s participation and reduced social isolation. Registration requirements were met.

The service provided was safe for people to use and staff to work in. People were supported to live in a safe way and enjoy their lives, by staff who were appropriately recruited and trained. Risks to people using the service and staff were assessed and monitored. The agency reported, investigated and recorded accidents, incidents and safeguarding concerns. Medicines were safely administered, by staff trained to do so. The agency met shielding and social distancing rules, used PPE effectively and safely and the infection prevention and control policy was up to date.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 17 July 2019).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted in part due to ongoing concerns about audits and monitoring systems not always identify issues in relation to people’s care and safety. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine the risks associated with these issues.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) has introduced focused/targeted inspections to follow up on previous breaches and to check specific concerns.

We undertook a focused inspection approach to review the key questions of Safe and Well-led where we had specific concerns about staffing numbers and audit management.

As no concerns were identified in relation to the key questions is the service Effective, Caring and Responsive, we decided not to inspect them. Ratings from the previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this 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.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk