Archived: Lotus Home Care Selby

Lotus Home Care Selby is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides support to younger and older adults who may be living with mental health needs, physical disability, or dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people using the service.

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

People’s care needs had been assessed however, when risks had been identified, appropriate risk assessments were not always in place to ensure mitigations had been considered or implemented. We made a recommendation about this. We found no harm had come to the people due to this concern and the provider took immediate action to address this.

Care records were in place to give guidance to staff on how to provide safe care; We found some areas in the care records needed expanding to ensure a good understanding of people’s medical needs and that people’s preference were clearly recorded. The provider was already working on expanding the detail within the care records at the time of the inspection.

People received their medication as prescribed, by staff who were appropriately trained. The registered manager had systems in place to review the quality and safety of the service to ensure a good standard of care was provided.

People were supported by staff who knew them well and who showed kindness and compassion.

Both people and relatives praised the care provided by the service and told us that staff went above and beyond what was expected of them. One relative said, “Since the carers are now in place the whole family is less stressed and relaxed. We are all really grateful of the care and we cannot fault them.”

Staff felt supported in their roles by a management team who listened to them. Staff had the opportunity to be open and honest about any concerns they had, and the registered manager promoted an open culture within the service.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 4 June 2021) and there were 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 1 April 2021. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve the governance of the service.

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.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. 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 Lotus Home Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Lotus Home Care Selby is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service supports younger adults and older people who may also be living with mental health needs, a physical disability, sensory impairment or dementia. The service was supporting 38 people at the time of our inspection.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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

People were at increased risk, because rotas were not managed effectively or in a way which consistently met their needs. Improvements were needed in the way COVID-19 risks were assessed and managed. There was not a robust system in place to monitor and ensure staff responded appropriately to accidents and incidents. Improvements were needed in the way staff recorded the care and support provided for people to take their prescribed medicines. Whilst we found no evidence people had been harmed because of these concerns, these failures increased the risk that people would receive inconsistent or unsafe care.

There had a been a high turnover of staff and people told us the service was not always well-led. Staff morale was low, and there were concerns about organisation and communication. The provider’s system of audits had not been effective in monitoring and addressing issues with the quality and safety of the service. There was breach of regulation in relation to the governance arrangements.

Staff received training on how best to meet people’s needs. Feedback about the training was mixed, and some staff felt they would have benefited from more practical training and shadowing opportunities. We made a recommendation about reviewing their training plan.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People received effective support to help make sure they ate and drank enough. Staff monitored people’s needs and supported them to seek medical advice if needed.

Staff provided person-centred care and support to meet people’s needs. We made a recommendation about implementing good practice guidance around end of life care planning.

People felt able to raise concerns and there was a process in place to manage and respond to any complaints about the service.

People received kind and caring support. Staff were respectful and supported people in a way which maintained their privacy and dignity.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 3 September 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on when the service was registered.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.