Empowered Lives Limited received an overall Good rating across all five key questions at this January 2020 inspection of a small domiciliary care service supporting four people in Bradford. Minor recommendations were made regarding end-of-life care documentation, consent recording consistency, and formalising lessons-learned and complaints records, but no regulatory breaches were identified.
Concerns (5)
moderate
Consent / capacity
: “one summary care plans contained statements that the person lacked capacity, however the person had signed consent to some aspects of their support including the management of their finances”
minorEnd-of-life care: “There was very limited information to show how people's wishes for this aspect of their care had been discussed...more individual detail was needed.”
minorIncident learning: “The systems in place to capture lessons learnt were often informal. We discussed with the registered manager the need to make clearer records”
minorRecord keeping: “The registered manager told us they took action when people raised informal concerns, however did not document these.”
minorGovernance: “the provider's website contained a link to the last inspection report on the CQC website, the rating was not included.”
Strengths
· People felt safe and staff were safely recruited with comprehensive risk assessments in place
· Medicines were managed safely with monthly audits of administration records
· Care plans were highly personalised, person-centred and kept up to date
· Strong cultural and communication support including multilingual staff and translated information
· Provider proactively involved people in safeguarding awareness, including an easy-read pictorial booklet
Quality-Statement breakdown (22)
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseGood
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementGood
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
safe: Using medicines safelyGood
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionGood
safe: Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
effective: Ensuring consent to care and treatment in line with law and guidanceGood
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the lawGood
effective: Supporting people to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced dietGood
effective: Staff support: induction, training, skills and experienceGood
caring: Ensuring people are well treated and supported; respecting equality and diversityGood
caring: Supporting people to express their views and be involved in making decisions about their careGood
caring: Respecting and promoting people's privacy, dignity and independenceGood
responsive: End of life care and supportGood
responsive: Planning personalised care to ensure people have choice and control and to meet their needs and preferencesGood
responsive: Meeting people's communication needsGood
responsive: Supporting people to develop and maintain relationships to avoid social isolationGood
responsive: Improving care quality in response to complaints or concernsGood
well-led: Promoting a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive and empoweringGood
well-led: Managers and staff being clear about their roles, and understanding quality performance, risks and regulatory requirementsGood
well-led: Continuous learning and improving careGood
Empowered Lives Limited received a Good rating across all five key questions at its first CQC inspection in September 2017, providing 24-hour domiciliary care to one individual. The service demonstrated strong person-centred values, safe care practices, effective staff training, and well-embedded governance systems.
Strengths
· Consistent staffing team enabling meaningful relationships with the person supported
· Detailed, person-centred care plans kept up to date and followed by staff
· Safe medicines management with complete MAR records and competency checks
· Staff received regular supervision monthly and ongoing training including self-identified courses
· Strong cultural competency, including Polish language support and a 'Guide to Poland' resource