Archived: Manchester Home Care Associates Limited

We spoke with three people who used the service and with three relatives of people who used the service. We sampled the care files of eight people who used the service. We interviewed five members of staff who were employed by the agency and sampled six recruitment, training and supervision files of staff employed at the agency.

People told us that they choose MCHA to provide domiciliary care services as they offered a consistent service. One relative told us, 'they aim to give consistent cover,' and described the registered provider as having been, 'quite innovative' in attempting to meet their relatives care needs.

Other people told us that the local authority had commissioned their care package for them and they were quite satisfied with the service provided by MHCA.

One person said, 'there is nothing at all wrong with the service. Carers arrive on time, I've no complaints, I'm very satisfied.'

People told us that care staff were always polite and treated them in a respectful way. People told us they felt involved, included and consulted about their care.

People told us that they had a small regular team of care staff. They told us they liked this as it meant that the care staff knew their care needs and they didn't have to tell new care staff what to do. Some people told us they were always told about changes to their care package, for example if a member of staff was on holiday they knew who would be calling and covering the care package. Other people told us that they were not always informed of changes in care staff.

Some people said that communication from the office was good and they were usually told if different care staff would be visiting, other people told us this did not always happen and that they would like to be informed of any changes.

People we spoke to said they had never had reason to make a formal complaint about the service.

People told us that in the main care staff arrived on time; however some people complained about care staff arriving too early or later than the expected time. People and their relatives said they would like the office to inform them if staff were running late.