Attention: The information on this website is currently out of date and should not be relied upon..

Care Services

carehome, nursing and medical services directory


HomeLife Carers (Plymouth), Plymouth.

HomeLife Carers (Plymouth) in Plymouth is a Homecare agencies specialising in the provision of services relating to caring for adults over 65 yrs, caring for adults under 65 yrs, dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions, personal care, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. The last inspection date here was 3rd December 2019

HomeLife Carers (Plymouth) is managed by Home Life Carers Limited who are also responsible for 3 other locations

Contact Details:

Ratings:

For a guide to the ratings, click here.

Safe: Requires Improvement
Effective: Good
Caring: Good
Responsive: Requires Improvement
Well-Led: Requires Improvement
Overall:

Further Details:

Important Dates:

    Last Inspection 2019-12-03
    Last Published 2018-11-15

Local Authority:

    Plymouth

Link to this page:

    HTML   BBCode

Inspection Reports:

Click the title bar on any of the report introductions below to read the full entry. If there is a PDF icon, click it to download the full report.

25th July 2018 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

The inspection of HomeLife Carers (Plymouth) (“HomeLife carers”) took place between the dates 25 and 30 July 2018 and was announced 48 hours before. We last inspected the service between 9 and 21 June 2017. We rated the service as Requires improvement overall. This was because we found concerns in whether the service was safe, responsive and well-led. We judged the service was not meeting the legal requirements of ensuring the service was appropriately governed and requested the provider submit an action plan to tell us how they were going to put this right. However, we found on this inspection some of the issues were ongoing.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults, younger adults and, people living with dementia, mental health, a learning disability, physical disability and/or sensory impairment. At the point of this inspection 32 people were receiving personal care from the service. Some of those also had staff from the service who were responsible for ensuring they were given their medicines safely.

Not everyone using HomeLife carers receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

A registered manager was not in place to manage the service locally. A manager had been employed since the previous registered manager left, but left the service before this inspection. The operations manager advised on inspection that a new experienced manager had been appointed and was due to start at the service on the week commencing the 30 July 2018. The 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. The operations manager supported this inspection.

We have continued to rate the service as requires improvement as not all of the concerns we found at the last inspection had been addressed.

People and families continued to report concerns about their not knowing which staff were coming to support their care and when. People told us the evenings and weekends had always been an issue. Staff also raised concerns about not knowing who they were working with and when, even up to the night before. Some people had continuity of carers but they had experience the staff they knew well being taken away from them at short notice. People and staff raised questions about the staffing of the service. However, we found visits were never missed and a backup team was available to ensure people received the support they needed. The service was managing a high level of staff sickness compounded by planned leave for other staff. Rotas to people and staff were being affected. This meant there were fewer staff to go around, and people were experiencing higher levels of disruption and not knowing who would give their care and when.

People and relatives told us they had to be assertive and persistent with the service to ensure they had a continuity of care staff. Even then, this could be changed suddenly and they were back phoning the office to find out why their care staff had been changed. People also told us they did not always receive a visit at the times they preferred.

The office had undergone changes in management since the last inspection. Two managers had left and another one had now been employed. People told us the organisation and running of the office needed to be improved. They also told us their complaints about the organisation and running of the office had not been heeded.

People spoke of the care staff with fondness and felt they were carin

9th June 2017 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

HomeLife Carers (Plymouth) (referred to as “HomeLife Carers”) was inspected on the 9, 12 and 21 June 2017. The inspection was announced 48 hours before the first day of the inspection. This was because the service delivers care in people’s home and we wanted to ensure someone was available at the office address. Also, we needed the registered manager to arrange that we could speak to people who use the service and staff. People and staff needed to have notice and give their consent to talk to us.

HomeLife carers provide care to people in their own homes. They could be older or younger adults with a range of needs such as living with dementia, a sensory impairment, a physical disability or a mental health diagnosis. The service was providing personal care to 116 people in their own homes when we inspected.

This was the service’s first inspection since their registration with us on the 11 September 2015.

A registered manager was employed to manage 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.

Prior to the inspection we received information of concern about the service. Concerns included staff training, new staff working without the training needed, staff not being introduced to people, poor management at the office, and people being placed at risk by not following safeguarding procedures. Also, staff were told to visit the next person or not being given enough time to travel to appointments and, staff were not speaking out in case they lost their employment. We highlighted we had these concerns to the registered manager and looked at them as part of the inspection.

We found most of the people and family carers we spoke with were frustrated with how their visits were organised. This had been an issue for some time and although their concerns had been shared with the service, it had not been successfully resolved. People told us they did not know who was coming to their home and when. The providing of staff rotas to people so they knew who would be visiting, had been inconsistent and at times the staff member who did visit people was not on people’s list or known to them. Staff told us they had at times been given unrealistic travel times which had made them late.

People had mixed experiences of having a familiar, known number of staff meeting their needs. They also had different experiences of how new staff were introduced into their team. Some people were very happy with how this was done; others expressed a deep dissatisfaction with this. We found the service had not always recorded people’s complaints and concerns and ensured these were met.

The registered manager was not reviewing parts of the service to ensure the quality of the service. For example, a range of audits were not taking place in addition to the annual satisfaction questionnaire. Staff attended regular staff meetings and felt they could give ideas. Staff told us if they asked for changes these were often changed for them as individuals.

People told us they were cared for by staff who were kind, considerate and respectful. Visits were never missed. People’s privacy and dignity were assured. People were involved in planning their care and staff made sure people controlled how they wanted their care needs met. People’s records were up dated but this was not always recorded. The registered manager reviewed this during the inspection and put new systems in place.

Where staff were responsible for making sure people were given their medicines as required this was achieved safely. People were also given enough to eat, drink and had their health needs responded to. Risk assessments were in place to keep people safe. Some issues that had been identified as

 

 

Latest Additions: