About the service: LANH is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care for people who require support in their own home.
Not everyone using LANH 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. At the time of our inspection, they were supporting nine people who received support with personal care tasks.
People’s experience of using this service:
The service had improved since we last inspected it on 24 April 2018. People and relatives, we spoke with was positive in their feedback. A relative said; “The service we receive has been fantastic.”
Care plans contained risk assessments, which were appropriately linked to people’s support needs.
Processes were in place to identify and reduce any environmental risks to people and care workers.
Staff had received infection control training, staff told us they had a good supply of personal protection equipment and showed they knew how important it is to protect people from cross infection.
The provider had suitable processes in place to safeguard people from different forms of abuse. Staff had been trained in safeguarding people and in the service’s whistleblowing policy. They were confident that they could raise any matters of concern with the registered manager, or the local authority safeguarding team.
The service was working according to the Accessible Information Standard (AIS) and its requirements during our inspection. This meant that people were able to communicate effectively with care workers or understand what was going on and involved in decision-making.
People’s needs were assessed prior to receiving a service including the protected characteristics under the Equalities Act.
Staff were skilled in carrying out their role. Trained staff were employed to meet people’s needs. Staff said they were supported by the registered manager.
People were encouraged to raise any concerns they had or make suggestions to improve the service they received.
Staff felt there was an open culture where they were kept informed about any changes to their role. Staff told us the registered manager was approachable and listened to their ideas and suggestions.
The service had effective systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the services provided.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection:
Requires Improvement (Report published 17 May 2018).
Why we inspected:
At our last inspection on 24 April 2018, we found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The breach was in relation to our findings, that the provider had failed to operate effective quality monitoring systems. We also recommended that the provider sought guidance on the implementation of comprehensive risk assessments and that the provider sought advice and guidance about making themselves available to people who use the service at all times particularly during emergencies to mitigate risk to people who use the service. We asked the registered provider to take action to meet the regulations. However, due to technical problems, we did not receive sent action plan by the date we stated. At this inspection, we found that improvements had been made in relation to the requirement made above.
Follow up:
We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive. We will carry out another scheduled inspection to make sure the service continues to maintain a Good rating.