Background to this inspection
Updated
2 November 2016
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.
The inspection visit took place on 14 and 15 September 2016 and it was announced. It was carried out by one inspector and one expert by experience. An expert by experience is someone who has personal experience of using services or caring for someone who did. We gave the provider three days notice of the inspection because it is a domiciliary care service and we wanted to ensure that people would be available to speak with us. We asked the provider to give us contact details of people who would be willing to give us feedback and to arrange for staff to be available to meet us.
We checked the information we held about the service and the provider. This included notifications the provider had sent to us about significant events at the service and information we had received from the public.
The provider had completed a provider information return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used this information to help us to come to our judgement.
We used a range of different methods to help us understand people’s experiences. The expert by experience spoke with ten people who used the service or their relatives on the telephone to gain their feedback. We visited two people in their homes with their relatives. We spoke with six members of staff, the registered manager and two health professionals. We looked at the care records of five people to see if these were accurate and up to date. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service including quality checks.
Updated
2 November 2016
We inspected this service on 14 and 15 September 2016 and the inspection was announced. We gave the provider three days’ notice of the inspection so that we could arrange to visit some people who used the service, telephone others and speak with staff. They were last inspected in November 2012 and were fully compliant against the standards we reviewed.
Living Independently Staffordshire is a short term reablement service for people living in the East Staffordshire area. This service supports adults with health and social care needs to maximise or regain their independence. They also provide short term crisis intervention. There were 55 people using the service at the time of our inspection.
There was a registered manager at the service. 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.
People were involved in setting their reablement goals and deciding on the care they wished to receive. They consented to their care and if they did not have capacity to make decisions then referrals were made to assess capacity. Staff monitored their progress and worked closely with other health professionals to encourage people to develop their independence. People had reviews and were supported to raise any concerns. When people required longer term support their transition to a new agency was planned and supported.
There were caring relationships between staff and people who used the service. Their privacy and dignity was respected and upheld and any information held about them was kept confidentially.
Staff were supported and trained to ensure that they had the skills to support people effectively. Some staff had champion roles so that they could develop their expertise and support their colleagues. There were safe recruitment procedures in place to ensure that staff were safe to work with people.
People felt safe with staff members who were trained in safeguarding and understood how to protect people from harm. Any concerns were reported in line with procedures and actions were taken to protect people. People knew how to make complaints if they needed to.
Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were assessed and staff were trained to recognise any changes to people’s needs. Plans were in place which described how to support people safely, including using equipment to assist them to move. Some people received assistance to take medicines and records were kept to ensure that this was done safely.
There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and because they worked in smaller geographical teams teams people received care from regular staff. People received the assistance they required to have enough to eat and drink.
Staff were well supported and felt involved in the development of the service. There were systems in place to drive quality improvement which included regular audits.