Archived: Home Instead Senior Care - Bromley, Chislehurst and Orpington

The service has 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People received support from staff who understood their health conditions and the related risks to their wellbeing. Staff had support plans to guide them on how to support people safely with their needs and identified risks. There were sufficient staff available to meet people’s needs. Staff sought people’s consent before they supported them with care.

People received support in line with the legal requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). Staff supported people who may lack mental capacity to understand and make decisions relating to the care they required. Where a decision had to be made for the person the service had followed 'best interest' process and involved healthcare professionals and people close to the person.

Staff told us the registered manager was approachable and supportive. Staff received regular supervisions and annual appraisals. The service used feedback to improve their practice. The registered manager ensured staff received training in relation to specific needs of people.

People told us staff were polite and treated them with respect. Staff involved people and their relatives in planning their care. Staff carried out risk assessments and there were care plans to provide them with guidance to support people safely.

People received the support they required to access healthcare services. Staff supported people with eating and drinking as appropriate and in line with guidance from healthcare professionals.

The registered manager regularly obtained feedback from people and their relatives on the support people received and their views of the service. The service considered people’s views and used them to improve the quality of their care and support.

People understood how to make a complaint and told us they were confident the registered manager would take action to resolve their complaints. The registered manager regularly monitored the quality of the service and improvements were made to the service.

Is the service Safe?

We saw evidence to show that people had been involved in setting up their individual care plans so that support was always planned and delivered in a way which suited them. There were risk assessments in place both for people's healthcare needs and for the environment in which support was to be provided. There were robust recruitment processes in place to protect people and the service spent time matching the needs of people to the skills and personality of the care staff.

Is the service Effective?

Prior to arranging a care package the registered manager undertook an individual needs assessment. This then formed the basis of peoples care plans. We saw that these contained detailed information to staff about people's needs and that people had been involved in decisions about how support should be provided. People who use the service or their representatives were regularly asked for their views about the care and treatment they were receiving. We saw that care plans were reviewed accordingly to reflect any changes that were needed.

Staff told us that the training that they had received had been 'in-depth' and that they had felt adequately prepared when they started to provide support for a person. The registered manager told us that as the agency became more established there were plans to increase the ongoing training provided for staff.

Is the service Caring?

All of the people we spoke with were extremely happy with the service. One person told us 'I'm very pleased. The carer they found is very good, they (the provider) took really good care to find a good person that would suit us, it's lovely to have someone that you can rely on'. Another person commented ' I can't speak highly enough of them, their response to my request for help was very rapid, my carer is very caring, and I can contact the agency 24 hours a day should I need to'. Everyone we spoke with confirmed that the care staff did everything that was asked of them, one told us ' They fulfil my expectations, they're wonderful'.

Is the service Responsive?

The provider responded to people's needs. We saw that people's care plans and risk assessments were updated and any changes in their situation were recorded. Families or people's representatives were kept informed about any changes and health professionals were contacted if a need was identified.

Is the service Well led?

The service had a registered manager in place and staff we spoke with felt supported. Staff supervision was in place to help monitor their practice and identify any individual training needs.

People using the service knew how to contact the provider and manager and had been given information about how to raise a concern should they need to.