Archived: Carewatch (Horsham & Crawley)

As part of this inspection we carried out telephone interviews with people who used the service and their family members. We spoke with eight people who used the service and six relatives of people who were unable to speak to us directly. We also spoke with staff.

We looked at the care records of four people who used the service and found their needs were assessed and care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with their individual care plan. A relative told us, 'Everything is alright so far; the staff treat my wife with dignity and support her independence as much as possible'.

We saw that there were effective recruitment and selection processes in place. Care workers told us they were supported to understand their role through induction training and shadowing colleagues on visits. All of the people that we spoke with told us that felt they were treated with dignity and respect and that staff addressed them appropriately.

There were processes in place to monitor the quality of service being provided. We saw that people were asked for their views through surveys and questionnaires. Care workers were also asked for their views.

We also spoke with five relatives. They told us that they were very happy with the services provided by the agency. One relative said the staff that supported their family member was, "Very good, helpful and they trusted them".

We spoke with three members of staff. They said that they had sufficient time on visits to provide a quality service.

One member of staff said of the agency, "They are open and approachable, I can ring them up and ask any questions I want".

Despite everyone expressing satisfaction with the service they received we found that the agency was not maintaining accurate records and that this put people at risk of receiving unsafe or inappropriate care.