Your Life (Poulton-Le-Fylde)

Updated 30 August 2019

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.

YourLife (Poulton-Le-Fylde)

This inspection was carried out by an inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in Crocus Court extra care housing:

YourLife (Poulton-Le-Fylde) provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. However, the registered manager was absent when we inspected.

Notice of inspection:

The inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 24 July 2019 and ended on 24 July 2019. We visited the office location on 24 July 2019.

What we did before inspection

We completed our planning tool and reviewed information we had received about the service since registering with the CQC. This included notifications we had received from the provider, about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people supported by the service. We looked at previous inspection reports. We also sought feedback from partner agencies and health and social care professionals. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection.

We gained information from one person who received personal care and support from YourLife (Poulton-Le-Fylde) and two relatives. We spoke with five members of staff including two senior managers. To gather information, we looked at a variety of records. This included medicine records and two people's care records. We looked at information in relation to recruitment, staff training and supervision records. We also looked at other information related to the management of the service including audits, surveys and meeting minutes. We did this to ensure the management team had oversight of the service and they could respond to any concerns highlighted or lead in ongoing improvements.

Updated 30 August 2019

About the service

YourLife (Poulton-Le-Fylde) provides care to people living in their own apartments within Crocus Court. People lived independently in individual apartments for over 70’s. As well as the apartments, the building has communal areas for socialising, and a bistro. Staff were on-site 24 hours a day to provide support if needed. 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. There were four people receiving personal care when we inspected.

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

People were safe and protected from abuse because staff assessed and managed risk. Not everyone needed personal care. Enough staff were available to meet people’s support needs. Staff were recruited safely. People received their medicines as they needed. Staff practised good infection control.

Staff had been appropriately trained and supported and had the skills, knowledge and experience to provide good care. People had support as needed with their dietary needs. Staff helped people to attend healthcare appointments to assist their health and wellbeing. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff provided care that met people’s diverse needs and preferences. People received good care and were treated with consideration and respect. They were involved in planning their care and making decisions.

Staff communicated with people effectively and had the skills to support people who had difficulties with communication. People were involved in a range of activities, independently or arranged by the service. Staff supported people to air any concerns. People felt these were dealt effectively. Staff were able to support people when at the end of life, to have a comfortable, pain free and peaceful end.

People said they were asked for their views and these were taken into account when planning care or changes in the service. Staff worked in partnership with other services and organisations to make sure they followed good practice and people in their care were safe. They also engaged with the local community to raise awareness of the service. Senior managers used a variety of methods to check the quality of the service and develop good practice. They were aware of, had informed CQC and were managing staff issues in the service when we inspected.

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

This service was registered with us on 30/07/2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration.

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.