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Archived: Total Home Care Solutions Oxford

Suite 14, Elms Court, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX2 9LP (01865) 256040

Provided and run by:
Total Home Care Solutions Limited

All Inspections

23, 24 July 2013

During a routine inspection

This was a planned inspection that we brought forward. We did this because we wanted to check that the non-compliance identified at the previous inspection in December 2012 had been addressed. This is relating to people's care and welfare, staffing, supporting workers and assessing and monitoring the quality of service. We found that the non-compliance had been addressed. Since our last inspection a new manger had been recruited.

At the time of our visit there were twelve people being cared for by Total Home Care Solutions. We spoke with five people who used the service and one relative. They told us they thought the service had improved and they were happy with the care they received. One person said "I am happier now. The service has got better". Another said "They haven't let me down, things have also improved".

Peoples' consent was obtained and their welfare needs were met by sufficient and appropriately trained care staff. The consistency of care visits had also improved.

We spoke with two of the five care workers who worked for the service. They told us they enjoyed working with people and that they felt well trained and supported. One said "the training is very good. It has prepared me well to do my job". Another said "I am starting NVQ level 2 which I've always wanted to do".

We saw that people were safe and their care was administered by care workers who were recruited and selected appropriately and who were trained and supported to carry out their role. The care worker files and training records we saw supported this judgement.

We saw that the service conducted quality assurance surveys and audits to measure its performance to allow it to respond to peoples' needs and preferences. Audits were undertaken along with quality compliance monitoring assessments and we saw that the results were published and available to care workers and people who used the service.

6 December 2012

During a routine inspection

We spoke with people who received care. They told us staff respected their privacy and dignity. They said staff would usually try and respond to requests for variations in their care routine to meet their changing needs. Two people who had consistent patterns of care told us their care had been provided by the same care worker on most occasions. Those who had experienced less consistent care told us they had received care from a number of different care workers at different times. They told us when this had happened they had not always been informed about it in advance. All of the people we spoke with said the standard of care they received once the care worker arrived had been good. "Staff are good - when they come" was one comment.

People we spoke with told us they realised the care workers were under pressure. Two of the people we spoke with said their care workers had 'complained' about the lack of staff and the additional stress this put them under.

People confirmed they had been asked for their view on the service they received. We were told the overall assessment of care from the most recent service user quality assurance questionnaire was positive about the quality of care received. This was confirmed from the individual records we saw. One typical example we saw noted the person was happy with the care workers and the actual care received. They were unhappy with reliability and communication and said they didn't know how to make a complaint.