Archived: Cherish Care

Cherish Care is a domiciliary care service providing support to people living in their own homes, a majority of whom are privately funded. The service specialises in providing care for people living with dementia or who are at the end of their life. The service also offers support to people with other needs, such as older people and people living with physical disabilities, to enable them to continue living in their own homes. On the day of our inspection there were 42 people receiving support from the service. The service is family run and based in Henfield, West Sussex.

The service had 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 and relatives praised staff as exceptionally caring and compassionate. People were supported by professional, well trained staff who they viewed as family and friends. People’s views, experience and contributions were sought and valued. The agency had a strong, visible

person-centred culture. People were at the heart of everything they did, they were made to feel valued and that they mattered. The service went that extra mile to exceed people's expectations of the service.

People received an outstanding level of person-centred care. Staff knew people's background, previous occupation, likes and dislikes extremely well and went the extra mile to create positive experiences for people.

People were matched extremely effectively with staff who shared their interests and could deliver person-centred care. There were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs. People received very good continuity of support from a care team that were flexible and adaptable in ensuring this was maintained.

People and their relatives spoke told us how highly the service was thought of in the local areas they served and how they had recommended them to others. One relative told us, “We could not ask for better support as my mother wants to be at home. I would definitely recommend Cherish carers.”

There was a very positive, inclusive culture across the management and staff team. Staff were encouraged to think creatively of ways to engage people in their interests and explore experiences to enrich their lives.

People and their relatives we spoke with told us they would be comfortable raising a complaint if needed but we found very few complaints had been raised. The provider was proactive in ensuring that complaints and issues were used to drive improvements.

Personalised risk assessments provided comprehensive guidance for staff, who were vigilant in identifying risks and took steps to reduce them. People received their medicines safely and on time from staff who were trained and assessed to manage medicines safely. Staff were trained to be aware of signs of abuse and were encouraged to report concerns, which were investigated. A robust recruitment process was in place to make sure people were cared for by suitable staff.

Staff received a comprehensive training programme to ensure they were skilled and knowledgeable to deliver effective care. Staff were receiving induction, supervisions and appraisals and told us they felt very well supported by the management team.

The service worked in partnership with professionals and outside agencies to ensure people received effective support. Staff worked with local groups like Know Dementia and Age UK to share and receive knowledge on best practices.

The provider had implemented good quality assurance systems which routinely reviewed people’s care to drive improvement. The service was following best practice guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, in-particular for ensuring effective quality assurance practices.

At the last inspection on 1 March 2016, we rated the service overall as good. At this inspection we found that the provider had improved to outstanding.

Cherish Care is a domiciliary care service providing support to 35 people living in their own homes, a majority of whom are privately funded. The service specialises in providing care for people living with dementia or who are at the end of their life. The service also offers support to people with other needs, such as older people and people living with physical disabilities, to enable them to continue living in their own homes. On the day of our inspection there were thirty-five people receiving support from the service. The service is family run and based in Henfield, West Sussex.

The service had 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 told us they felt safe. One person told us “I feel absolutely safe.” Staff had received induction training and had access to ongoing training to ensure their knowledge was current and that they had the relevant skills to meet people’s needs. People were safeguarded from harm. Staff had received training in safeguarding adults at risk, they were aware of the policies and procedures in place in relation to safeguarding and knew how to raise concerns.

Staff had undertaken essential training as well as training that was specific to people’s needs and conditions. People felt that the staff were well trained and felt confident that they had the right skills to meet their needs.

Risk assessments had been undertaken and were regularly reviewed. They considered people’s physical and cognitive needs as well as hazards in the environment and provided guidance to staff in relation to the equipment that they needed to use and the amount of staff required when assisting people. People were encouraged and enabled to take positive risks. People’s independence was not restricted through risk assessments, instead risks were assessed and managed to enable people to be independent. There were low incidences of accidents and incidents, those that had occurred had been recorded and were used to inform practice.

People received their medicines on time, these were administered by staff that had undertaken relevant training and who had their competence regularly assessed. People were asked to give their consent before being supported with these and there were safe systems in place for the storage, administration and disposal of medicines.

People told us they were asked for their consent before being supported. For example, when being supported with their personal hygiene or to take medicine. Mental capacity assessments had been undertaken to ensure that for people who lacked capacity appropriate measures had been taken to ensure best interest decisions were made on their behalf.

People had access to relevant health professionals to maintain good health. People were supported with their hydration and nutrition and were offered support according to their needs and preferences.

The provider had reviewed their systems and improved these to ensure that people were integral to the care they received. People were involved in their care and decisions that related to this. There was a strong emphasis on who the person was, what made them unique and what skills and abilities they had. People were asked their preferences when they first joined the service and these were respected and accommodated. Regular reviews and meetings provided an opportunity for people to share their concerns and make comments about the care they received.

The provider had devised innovative systems to ensure that people received support from staff that had similar interests to them, encouraging positive relationships to develop. For example, they had devised a ‘skills match’ form. People and staff were asked to complete the forms, stating their interests, hobbies, likes and dislikes. The provider the used this information to ‘match’ staff to people to maximise the chances of positive relationships forming. A relative, whose loved one had received support from staff that had been allocated using the ‘skills match’ form told us “We were worried about the idea of asking for help with care for our relative. Cherish Care, however, have allayed all our fears, they have treated them with kindness, respect and professionalism, combined with a real sense of fun, which they really need.”

The provider had dealt promptly with any complaints and changed practice as a result. There were various processes that people and their relatives could use to make their comments and concerns known. The provider welcomed feedback and was continually acting on feedback to drive improvements within the service.

People were cared for by extremely kind and caring staff. They confirmed that they were treated with dignity and their privacy maintained. One person told us “They are wonderful, they respect my dignity and privacy.” Staff knew people’s preferences and support was provided to meet people’s needs, preferences and interests. The provider ensured that people were supported to maintain contact with their relatives and friends and supported people to access social events to reduce the risk of social isolation. One person told us “I can’t fault them, they are a 100% service, a brilliant company.”

There was a warm and friendly atmosphere within the service. People were complementary about the leadership and management and confirmed that the aims and values of the provider were embedded in staff’s practice. Staff felt supported by the registered manager and were able to develop in their roles. Quality assurance processes were carried out to ensure that the quality of care provided, as well as the environment itself, was meeting the needs of people.

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People told us that they received the care and support they required to meet their needs. They said that their care and support needs had been discussed with them and the care they received reflected this. One person said, "I'm very happy with the agency and with the care I receive. I would recommend it to anyone." Another person commented, "The carers are all very helpful, very punctual and very polite."

We looked at systems in place for the handling of medicines. We found that staff were trained and appropriate records were maintained.

We reviewed the recruitment practice followed and systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided. We found the recruitment practice was thorough and well documented. Systems to monitor the quality of the service had been established and included the views of people who used the service.

The service had effective systems in place to deal with people's comments and complaints.

We found that people receiving support from Cherish Care benefitted from a dedicated management structure and care workers who were clearly committed to providing consistent and good quality care.

We found that comprehensive and well maintained care plans enabled care workers to meet people's assessed support needs in a structured and consistent manner.

We found that people receiving a service were protected, through robust policies and procedures and effective staff training relating to safeguarding vulnerable adults.

Positive comments received from people receiving a service, or their relatives, indicated satisfaction with the care workers and the support services provided:

'I'm totally satisfied and have no complaints at all. The carers are brilliant and I have all the help and support that I need. Every other month the manager or someone from the office will call round to ask how I am and see if there is anything that could be done better'.

'I think they are absolutely amazing. It's been a very traumatic year for us and everyone at Cherish Care has just been so kind. They couldn't have done more for us and I know I couldn't have managed without them. I just can't speak highly enough of them'.