Archived: Caring Support Office

Updated 8 April 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection took place on 24 February 2016 and was announced. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming. We did this because the manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector. Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service which included statutory notifications we had received in the last 12 months and the Provider Information Return (PIR) the manager had sent us. The PIR is a form we ask the provider to complete prior to our visit which gives us some key information about the service, including what the service does well, what they could do better and improvements they plan to make. We sent 35 questionnaires to people and their relatives asking them to tell us about the care and support they received from the service, 18 people responded and they told us about the care provided to them. We also received feedback about the service from five staff members and two community professionals.

Before our inspection we spoke to one person who used the service. During our inspection we spoke with two staff members and the registered manager. We examined four people’s care plans, three staff files as well as a range of other records about people’s care, staff and how the service was managed. After our inspection we spoke with two more staff members, five people using the service and one person’s relative.

Updated 8 April 2016

This inspection took place on 24 February 2016 and was announced. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming.

Caring Support is a charitable co-operative society that provides personal care for people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection 24 people were receiving a personal care service and were either privately funded, helped with the cost of care through direct payments from the local authority or through continuing care funded by the NHS. At our last inspection in June 2014 the service was meeting the regulations inspected.

The service had a registered manager in post. 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.

Care was tailored to meet the needs of each person using the service and people were complementary about how the service recognised and responded to their needs. Staff knew the people they were supporting well and provided a personalised service for them. People and their relatives were involved in creating their own care planning records. These focused on people as individuals and gave clear information and guidance to staff about how they would like their care delivered.

Staff used information in people’s care plans to help involve and encourage people to follow their own activities and interests both at home and in the wider community. The service worked with volunteers to help befriend those people who were at risk form social isolation and invited people to various activities arranged at certain times of the year.

People told us they felt safe and that they trusted staff. There were processes in place to help make sure people were protected from the risk of abuse. Staff were aware of safeguarding vulnerable adult’s procedures and understood how to safeguard the people they supported. Staff were up to date with training and the service followed appropriate recruitment practices.

People were happy with their care and liked the staff that supported them, they told us staff were caring and respectful. People had the same staff to care for them and staff were introduced before they started to work with them. When there were changes to staff people said the service would let them know. Staff explained the methods they used to help maintain people’s privacy and dignity.

Any risk that people may face was identified by risk assessments and appropriate plans were put in place to help keep them safe. Care records and risk assessments were regularly reviewed. Staff supported people to attend appointments and liaised with their GP and other healthcare professionals to help meet their health needs.

People were asked about their food and drink choices and staff prepared and cooked meals for people when required. People were supported to take their medicine when they needed it.

People and their relatives told us they would complain if they needed to, but most had never needed to. Everyone we spoke with knew who the manager was and felt comfortable speaking with her about any problems.

People were contacted regularly to make sure they were happy with the service. Senior staff carried out spot checks to review the quality of the care provided.