Elevate Care Ltd

This was the first comprehensive inspection of Elevate Care – Milton Keynes. At this announced inspection we rated the service as 'Good'.

Elevate Care – Milton Keynes provides a personal care service to people who live in their own homes that includes, support with taking medicines, personal care, meal preparation, respite care and home from hospital care. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 11 people.

Not everyone using Elevate Care- Milton Keynes received the regulated activity; personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service received by people provided with personal care, help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they did, we also took into account any wider social care provided. Of the 11people using the service, 10 were receiving personal care.

The service had a registered manager. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People felt safe when receiving care in their own homes. Staff had been provided with safeguarding training to enable them to recognise signs and symptoms of abuse and how to report them. There were risk management plans in place to protect and promote people's safety. Staffing numbers were appropriate to keep people safe . The registered provider followed thorough recruitment procedures to ensure staff employed were suitable for their role.

People's medicines were managed safely and in line with best practice guidelines. Systems were in place to ensure that people were protected from infection. There were arrangements in place for the service to make sure that action was taken and lessons learned when things went wrong, to improve people's safety.

People's needs and choices were assessed and their care provided in line with best practice. This met their diverse needs. Staff received an induction process when they first commenced work at the service and received on-going training. This ensured they were able to provide care based on current practice when supporting people.

People received enough to eat and drink and staff gave support when required. People were supported to use and access a wide variety of other services and social care professionals. The staff had a good knowledge of other services available to people and we saw these had been involved with supporting people using the service. People were supported to have health appointments when required, including opticians and doctors, to make sure they received continuing healthcare to meet their needs.

People's consent was gained before any care was provided. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People received care that was person centred and met their needs. They had developed positive relationships with the staff who understood their likes and dislikes. Staff were kind, caring and treated people with dignity and respect.

People were listened to, their views were acknowledged and acted upon and care and support was delivered in the way that people chose and preferred. Records showed that people and their relatives were involved in the care planning process. There was a complaints procedure in place to enable people to raise complaints about the service.

Staff felt supported and valued. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the care provided and to ensure the values; aims and objectives of the service were met. The registered manager was aware of their responsibility to report events that occurred within the service to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and external agencies.

The five questions we ask about services and what we found