15 November 2013
During a routine inspection
People told us that they felt safe with staff providing support in their own homes and were regularly asked for consent. One person said, '"they have been good from the start, I am asked to sign things when we have talked about what I need". We saw that care was planned and delivered in a way that met people's needs, one person told us, 'Staff are very loyal and good at calming me down, they are good with ideas and very sympathetic, they know me', another said, 'they are lovely company, they work very hard'.
Care plans and risk assessments were completed, which enabled people and staff to feel that care, treatment and support were delivered safely. We found that care plans were person centred and that individual support was recorded daily.
We spoke with six staff who told us that they were supported by their managers and had opportunities to complete training relevant to their roles. One care worker told us, 'it's a good company, very supportive and they encourage you to do the training' Our last inspection highlighted the absence of formal appraisals. Appraisals provide an opportunity for staff to discuss with their line manager how well they are doing and to identify any required improvements, which may be addressed through additional training and development. At this visit we observed that appraisal happened in January.
We saw that the manager regularly audited the service and that the provider had a complaints policy.