Laura Care Agency Limited

Updated 12 February 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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 commenced on 17 December 2018 and was completed on 02 January 2019. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the location provides a domiciliary care service. We needed to be sure that they would be in. When planning our inspection, we looked at the information we held about the service. This included notifications received from the provider about deaths, accidents/incidents and safeguarding alerts which they are required to send us by law.

The service provides support for 12 people, during our inspection we spoke with 10 of the people using the service, three relatives, four staff and the registered manager who was also the provider. We reviewed the care records of three people to see how their care was planned and delivered. We looked at recruitment, training and supervision records for three staff. We also looked at records which supported the registered manager to monitor the quality and management of the service.

Updated 12 February 2019

Laura Care is a domiciliary care service providing a service to people living in their own home. This announced inspection took place on 17 December 2018 and 02 January 2019 We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice that we would be visiting the service because we wanted to make sure staff and people would be available for us to speak with. At the time of the inspection there were 12 people using the service.

At our last inspection on the 30 June 2017 we rated the service as requires improvement in safe and well led. At this inspection we found that the required improvements had been made.There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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.

Staff had been trained in safeguarding people. There were procedures in place to follow in an emergency. Staff knew what action to take if they identified any safety concerns during their work. General risks to individuals when providing support were identified so staff had the information they needed to support people safely. Staff and records confirmed that there were enough staff to meet peoples care needs. Care staff had completed training to enable them to support people with their medication if required.

People benefitted from continuity of staff so relationships were built and people did not have to endure different staff for their care. Staff had received ongoing training to ensure that their skills were updated with current knowledge. The service followed a recruitment process which ensured staff were recruited safely.

Staff were caring and treated people with dignity and respect. People's choices and independence was respected and promoted and staff responded with kindness, maintaining people’s dignity. People’s care needs were regularly reviewed to ensure the care provided was up-to-date. Staff had an awareness of the Mental Capacity Act and the principles of the Act.

People and relatives felt they could speak with the registered manager about their worries or concerns and felt they would be listened to and action would be taken. The provider had quality assurance and audit systems in place to monitor the care and support people received to ensure the service met people’s needs.