All inspections: Plan Care Wood Green - Care Quality Commission

When we visited Plan Care, Wood Green they were providing a service to 18 people. We were able to speak to two people who were using the service or their relatives. They told us they felt they were receiving a good service. One person told us, 'We have brilliant carers. We've had some lovely ladies.'

We spoke to one professional involved in supporting a person using the service's care. They told us they felt communication from the service to them could be improved.

People expressed their views and were involved in making decisions about their care and treatment. The provider had a survey it had undertaken to collect people's views of the service.

We looked at four people's care plans. These showed that the person's individual needs and risks had been assessed. When we spoke to staff they showed knowledge of the needs of the people who use the service.

The provider had processes and procedures in place to safeguard people who use the service.

We found that there were processes in place to support staff. We spoke with five members of staff. They told us they felt they were well supported and had access to training.

The provider had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people receive. Regular monitoring and spot checks were taking place.

We found that significant improvements had been made in a number of areas since our last inspection: late and missed care calls were now few, additional staff had been recruited to the office although on a temporary basis, staff were being regularly supervised, regular quality monitoring activities were taking place, and complaints were being investigated and handled properly.

Our findings were supported by what people using services and relatives told us. People we spoke with were happy with the service they were receiving from Plan Care Wood Green.

However we found that Plan Care Wood Green still had no registered manager in post, and there were examples of relevant incidents that were not reported to the CQC.

People told us they were happy with the care they received. One person said, 'Different people come but each carer is very good. They do their job properly.'

People continue to experience late or missed care calls from time to time, especially when their regular carer was not available.

Most people were happy with the service and didn't have complaints, although one person was not confident their complaint would be properly addressed.

Relatives of people who use services made very positive comments about some of the care workers. A wife of a person who receives care said, 'The carer in the evening is very bubbly, jokes and talks to my husband. She's been very good.' Another relative of a person who receives care told us," The carer who comes in the morning is very good. She speaks Spanish, which my mum needs as her English is not very good.'

However, the relatives also had some very negative comments about the service they received a lot of the time, mainly because many of the care workers were unreliable and were often late. They explained that this gave them a lot of stress. One relative told us, 'I have spoken with the managers at Plan Care Wood Green about their service a few times. A week ago, the carer didn't come at lunchtime. I was getting ready to call them, but didn't as I was so busy and didn't get round to it.' Another elderly relative told us that although she felt the service was not very good, she felt she had limited options. She said, 'If I was by myself with my husband I don't know how I'd cope.'

Archived: Plan Care Wood Green

All Inspections

29 November and 13 December 2012

During a routine inspection

17 January 2012

During an inspection looking at part of the service

1 September 2011

During an inspection looking at part of the service

5 April 2011

During a routine inspection