Shaw Community Services Limited (DCA) - Herefordshire Branch

The provider registered this service with us to provide personal care and support for people with a range of varying needs including dementia, who live in their own homes. At the time of our inspection 32 people received support in the extra care scheme and 7 people with personal care in the local community.

People’s experience of using this service: The people using the service felt safe and had confidence in the provider to act on any concerns. People told us, “I feel safe I have no worries. I have people around me that actually care about me and I get on well with all the staff”, and “The staff are brilliant, very competent and know exactly what they are doing”, and “I have totally trust in the staff when they provide my care, the [staff] know what I need and do a great job, no complaints”, and “The service really is tailored to my [relative] needs. They provide a brilliant service that is flexible to meet our needs”.

Sufficient numbers of staff had been recruited. Safe recruitment practices had been followed, and all records required were in place.

Everyone we spoke with told us that they mainly enjoyed the food prepared by staff. People's nutritional needs were known and met by staff. People told us they always received their choice of food and enjoyed the meals prepared for them.

Consent to care and treatment was sought in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People told us staff always asked for their consent before providing support.

People told us staff were kind and caring and that their dignity was protected by staff. This was also reflected within the responses to surveys and within the compliment cards and letters we looked at. People told us the staff knew them and supported well, including their needs and preferences.

Care plans were clearly recorded. They detailed how people wished and needed to be cared for. They were regularly reviewed and updated as required with changes in care and support clearly signposted. We saw that relatives were involved in supporting staff to understand how people wished to be cared for. The care files had been reviewed regularly and people were involved in these reviews.

Systems were in place to gather feedback from people regarding the service and action was taken to improve the service, based on the feedback. The registered manager and senior staff also completed regular audits and addressed any areas identified as requiring improvement to improve the service provided to people.

Rating at last inspection: Good published (28 August 2016)

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection that was scheduled based on the previous rating. We inspected to check whether the service had sustained its Good rating.

Follow up:

We will follow up on this inspection through ongoing monitoring of the service, through conversations and checking relevant notifications.

Shaw community services ltd is registered to provide personal care and supported living services. The provider registered this service with us to provide personal care and support for people with a range of varying needs including dementia, who live in their own homes. At the time of our inspection 48 people received support with personal care and supported living services.

There was a registered provider for this service. A registered provider is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered providers and registered managers 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.

People and their relatives said they were well supported by the staff and the management team. They told us staff were caring and treated them with dignity and respect. People told us there had been a lot of new staff members recently. They acknowledged that the registered manager was working on providing regular staff that knew them well. When identified as part of their care planning, people were supported to eat and drink well. Relatives told us they were involved as part of the team to support their family member. People and their relatives told us staff would access health professionals as soon as they were needed.

Staff we spoke with recognised the different types of abuse. There were systems in place to guide staff in reporting any concerns. Staff were knowledgeable about how to manage people’s individual risks, and were able to respond to peoples’ needs. People were supported to receive their medicines by staff who were trained and aware of the risks associated with them. Systems were under review to ensure people consistently received their medicines as prescribed.

Staff had up to date knowledge and training about how to support people. They ensured people gave their consent to the support they received. The management team took appropriate steps to ensure when people were supported with decisions these were done in their best interest. The management team were adaptable to changes in peoples’ needs and communicated changes to staff effectively. They were improving the levels of permanent staff to ensure people were supported by staff they knew.

People and their relatives knew how to raise complaints and were confident action would be taken when needed. The management team had arrangements in place to ensure people were listened to and action taken if required. Staff were encouraged to be involved in regular meetings to share their views and concerns about the quality of the service.

The management team monitored the quality of the service. The registered provider had systems in place to identify improvements and action them in a timely way.

We found that the provider had systems in place to gain the consent to care and treatment of people who used the service.

We found that staff had an understanding of the needs of people who used the service. We found that care and treatment was planned and delivered in a safe way, which met people's individual care needs. People we spoke with were positive about the care they received. One person told us, "We discuss my care and sort out what I need."

We found that people were kept safe because staff knew how to protect people from the risk of abuse. We found that there was an effective recruitment process in place to ensure that staff had the skills to meet people's needs. We found that systems were in place to effectively deal with complaints. The provider monitored the quality of the service and had made improvements where needed. One person who used the service told us, "They are fantastic. I have never been happier in my life than I am now."

People told us that they had been consulted about what support was needed and that the care provided was as agreed. One person said, 'my daughter and I were involved in setting up what help I needed'. Another person told us the service was, 'absolutely fine' and, 'perfect as far as we are concerned'.

People's care records had been kept under review and they gave the staff the information they needed. The service sent out feedback surveys periodically and responded to comments people made. The service also responded to complaints received at other times.

We found that suitable systems were in place for the people who needed support with their medicines.

The way staff were organised to carry out visits within the Leadon Bank apartments and the community had improved. This had made the service more reliable.

We found that the management of medicines by the service needed to improve in order to ensure that people using the service received their medicines safely.