Gladstone Care Limited

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.

At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 68 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. Managers and staff told us, “Person-cared care is our priority” and “We are a good team, we are listened to at staff meetings and managers take on board what we have to say.”

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. At the time of our inspection, the service had a manager who was registered with the CQC.

The service benefitted from a longstanding and experienced management team.

Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. The management team were knowledgeable and open and honest throughout the assessment process. Staff and relatives spoke positively about the management of the service. Feedback included, “I know managers would support and advise us” and “The advice and guidance around care has been second to none and we thank them for all they have done.”

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff told us, “I have confidence to speak up and the service would listen” and “I have spoken up and I have been listened to” There was regular engagement with staff, people and their relatives.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Some members of staff told us how the management team had made reasonable adjustments for them to support them to perform their role to the best of their ability.

Governance systems were not always fully robust to support continuous learning. Whilst a system was in place to manage any complaints or concerns and safeguarding concerns had been referred to the appropriate agencies and investigated, the service had not maximised opportunities to learn from feedback given from the previous assessment about more robust oversight to monitor safeguarding incidents, accidents and complaints. The provider immediately took measures to develop this system during the assessment.

Staff and leaders worked in partnership with key organisations and professionals to support care provision, service development and joined-up care. Managers told us specialist training was requested through the District Nursing Team and with local hospitals. Staff understood what partners and stakeholders were available to the service and how best to access this support. One staff member told us, “I noticed a client needed a different sized sling, I informed the office, and an Occupational Therapist was arranged to visit the client, this was documented immediately in the care notes.”

The management team and staff looked at ways to improve people’s quality of life and support good outcomes and they actively involved staff, people and relatives with this.

Managers encouraged staff to speak up with ideas for improvement and innovation and invested time to listen and engage. There was a sense of trust between managers and staff. Staff told us, “We have the chance to share any ideas with the office or through a staff communication group.”

Quality improvement surveys, and feedback from multiple stakeholders (including staff, people, relatives and professionals) was collected to explore ways to improve the service and discussed between managers and providers on an informal basis. However, the discussions were not always documented, and robust systems were not in place to evidence actions, analysis and continuous improvement. Managers provided immediate assurances actions would be taken to implement this during the assessment.