Flamelily Independent Living

Updated 25 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

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

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 did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). However, the provider had employed a new manager who was in the process of registering with CQC. They are referred to throughout this report as ‘the manager’. A registered manager 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 it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider 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 Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three members of staff, including the provider, the manager and quality assurance manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medicines records. We looked at four files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality assurance records were reviewed.

After the inspection

We spoke with five people who use the service and five people’s relatives. We received feedback from one professional who regularly works with the service and sought feedback from seven members of staff. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at the provider’s action plan, further quality assurance records and policies.

Updated 25 June 2021

About the service

Flamelily Independent Living is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. The service is registered to support adults under and over the age of 65, people living with dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions and sensory impairments. At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting 37 people.

Not everyone who used the service 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.

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

Throughout the pandemic, quality assurance systems had not been fully effective. However, the provider had employed a new manager and quality assurance manager in March 2021. Since then, robust quality assurance processes had been put in place. We saw that these had led to significant changes to the service and there were on-going plans for improvement.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and ensure that people received their care at the right time in a non-hurried way. Staff had been recruited safely and treated people with kindness and respect.

People received their medicines safely from staff who had received training and whose competency was regularly assessed.

Staff received training in infection prevention and control (IPC), had enough personal protective equipment and were confident about their responsibilities in relation to IPC.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe with staff. People had detailed and clear care plans and risks assessments, which provided staff with personalised information about their needs and ways to reduce any risks identified.

We received consistently positive feedback from people, their relatives and staff about the management of the service and how their feedback was listened to and acted upon.

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

Rating at the last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 02 April 2020) and there were two breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 20 December 2019. Two breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve good governance and in relation to employing fit and proper persons.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Flamelily Independent Living on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.