Archived: St Gregorys Homecare Limited

Following our last inspection in August 2013 we set some compliance actions for the provider to protect the interests of the people using the service. Some of these matters we needed to check did not necessarily relate to people's views and experiences. Therefore at this visit we did not ask people to comment on all of the outcomes we looked at.

Is the service safe?

The recruitment procedures in place did not demonstrate to us that the provider operated a robust and effective recruitment procedure to protect the interests of people using the service.

Is the service effective?

The reviews of care showed that people had been involved at the assessment of their needs and part of the decision making about how their needs would be met by the service. The care plans we viewed had a designated section for signatures of the assessor and for the client. This meant that people understood the care they received and support was consistent with and in accordance to their wishes.

Is the service caring ?

We saw that an assessment of needs was completed before people began using the service. The information gathered in the assessments was used to create an individual support plan for people. We saw that formal reviews of care and support had taken place.

Is the service responsive?

The service had introduced new policies and procedures to deal with complaints received. At this visit we did not see that the new systems were fully embedded however the records of complaints logged since January 2104 complied with the new company procedures.

Is the service well-led?

Systems that were in place had not been effective in monitoring the quality of the service nor did they identify any themes or trends in relation to learning from information gathered through the auditing process.

The relatives and people we spoke with told us they were 'very happy" and 'thoroughly satisfied' with the support provided and said the service provided was 'excellent'. One person we spoke with told us, "It's marvellous care. The staff know my relative well and understand what he needs'.

We saw there were written policies and procedures in relation to the safe and effective recruitment of suitable staff. However we found that for recruitment in general these policies and procedures were not followed. The recruitment of staff did not include all of the appropriate checks to ensure that staff were of good character.

We looked at the last overall audit completed by the service in February 2013. A further audit whihc had been identified in the summary of the February audit should have taken place in May this had not been completed. No other audits of any aspects of the service had been carried out.

We saw there were written policies and procedures for dealing with complaints. The records of complaints we viewed showed that they had been responded to. However we saw that not all complaints had been dealt with in line with timescales identified in the policy.

People using the service and their relatives has been given the opportunity to give their views about different aspects of service provision and comment on their experiences. We saw that the surveys were positive in tone and none of those responding rated the service as poor. Some people rated the service as excellent and the lowest rating we saw was average. Constructive criticism had also been given and the manager was responding to this. Comments we saw included, "Very good on the whole" and "Professional and friendly staff" and also "We are pleased with the service and Mum really likes the carers."

Most people spoke well of the staff caring for them. We were told "What they do for me is good, I am pleased. They are all caring people who come to me." People told us that they knew who would be calling and that "They have always turned up so far." People told us that if carers were late there was usually a good reason. Relatives and carers told us that they were able to contact the office if they were unhappy or wanted to make a change to their agreed care package.