Archived: Caremark Bath and North East Somerset

Caremark, Bath and North East Somerset is a domiciliary care service, providing personal care to people living in and around Bath and North East Somerset. At the time of our inspection there were nine people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The quality assurance systems in place did not effectively monitor all aspects of the service. When audits had been carried out, it was unclear if actions had been completed. When incidents were reported, it was unclear how these were investigated or resolved. There was nothing documented to show how staff were informed of quality improvement plans.

Staff spoke highly of the nominated individual and said the service was a good place to work. One staff member said, “[Nominated individual] is very proactive about us giving good support to people and wanting to give everyone really good care.”

People told us they felt safe using the service. People were cared for by staff who knew how to keep them safe and protect them from avoidable harm. Comments included, “Yes, I feel safe because of the way the staff behave” and, “I feel very happy and safe. Staff look after me and ask if I need anything more.” Although there were staff vacancies, the provider told us they were recruiting more staff and monitoring capacity before taking on new packages of care. People were supported to take their medicines safely.

People's needs were assessed, and care plans were in place. People were cared for by staff who had been trained to carry out their roles and who were knowledgeable about the support people needed. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People and their relatives told us they were cared for by kind and compassionate staff. Staff understood the need to respect people's privacy and dignity. Comments included, “We are very happy with the service. The staff do very well, they’re very caring, just brilliant” and, “The staff are caring, friendly and approachable, all very nice people. They treat us both with dignity and respect, and we laugh together a lot.”

Staff were knowledgeable about people's support needs as well as people's preferences for how they were supported. One person said, “I thought I would hate having carers in our home, but it is such a relief, a way of life now.” There was a complaints procedure in place and people knew how to complain if they needed to.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

This service was registered with us on 29 October 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Well-led section of this full report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.