Background to this inspection
Updated
17 March 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 04 February 2016. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice to ensure there would be a manager present at the office on the day of the inspection. The inspection was carried out by an adult social care inspector from the Care Quality Commission.
We reviewed information we held about the service in the form of notifications and enquiries received. We also liaised with relevant professionals in advance of the inspection in order to ascertain their views of the service.
Crossroads Care provides respite for carers and assistance for cared for people. We spoke with one person who was cared for, five carers and seven members of staff. This included the registered manager, quality assurance lead for the service and five support workers. We looked at records held by the service, including electronic care plans and staff files, audits, training records and meeting minutes.
Updated
17 March 2016
We carried out this announced inspection on 04 February 2016. The inspection was announced to ensure the manager would be available at the head office to facilitate our inspection.
Our last inspection of this service was in April 2013, where all standards were met. The provider has since moved premises and this was the first time we had inspected at their new location. The local Salford office of Crossroads is based in Eccles, Greater Manchester.
Crossroads Care Salford offers a full range of services including respite services for friends and family members of anything upward of one hour per week. This includes providing personal care, bathing or showering, emergency support and specialist care for adults and children with complex and additional needs. Crossroads Care Salford also provides a short breaks leisure service, in which children with complex medical needs can use a specially adapted minibus for day trips on weekends and school holidays.
For the purpose of this inspection report, family members or friends are referred to as ‘Carers’, whilst people who received care and support are referred to as ‘Cared for people’. At the time of out inspection there approximately 70 people who used the service.
There was 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.
Both carers and cared for people told us they felt safe as a result of the support they received. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of safeguarding procedures and how they would report concerns about people’s safety.
Cared for people were protected against the risks of abuse because the service had a robust recruitment procedure in place. Appropriate checks were carried out before staff began work at the service to ensure they were fit to work with vulnerable people.
We looked at the staff rotas to ensure there were sufficient staff available to meet people’s needs, which were stored on an electronic call monitoring system. This enabled managers to check care was provided at the correct times to people. During the inspection, neither staff, carers nor cared for people raised any concerns about the current staffing numbers within the service.
Staff told us they felt supported to undertake their work and had access to enough training. Each member of staff we spoke with also told us they completed an induction when they first started working for the service.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) provides a legal framework for making particular decisions on behalf of people who may lack the mental capacity to do so for themselves. The Act requires that as far as possible people make their own decisions and are helped to do so when needed. When they lack mental capacity to take particular decisions, any made on their behalf must be in their best interests and as least restrictive as possible. Staff told us they had undertaken recent training and were able to provide examples of when people may be deprived of their liberty.
Cared for people were supported to maintain good nutritional intake, with carers telling us that staff supported people with tasks such a food preparation where required.
People told us they were treated with dignity and respect staff, who offered them choices and encouraged them to be as independent as possible.
Each person who used the service had a support plan in place, which provided staff with an overview of their support needs and what they needed to do. Electronic copies of these were located at the head office, with hard copies also available in people’s homes.
There was a complaints procedure in place. The service user guide also referred specifically to complaints and explained the process people could follow if they were unhappy with any aspects of the service.
The staff we spoke with were positive about the management and leadership of the service. Staff felt the manager was approachable and supported them to carry out their work to a high standard.
We found there were appropriate systems in place to monitor the quality of service effectively. The service had a designated quality assurance lead who undertook regular audits within the service to ensure good governance was maintained to ensure the service continually improved as a result.