Archived: Heart of England Mencap DCA North

Below is a summary of what we found. If you want to see the evidence supporting our summary please read our full report.

Is the service safe?

We saw people's care records accurately reflected their care needs. We found people's care records were regularly evaluated and reviewed by senior staff.

We found the provider made appropriate checks on staff before they began work.

We found evidence the service learned from incidents and investigations and appropriate changes were implemented to improve the service.

Is the service effective?

People told us the care they received met their needs. They told us they had been involved in planning the care they received.

Staff we spoke with understood the needs of the people they supported and what they told us was reflected in people's support plans.

Is the service caring?

We spoke with eight people who used the service and they were all positive about the staff who supported them. For example people told us; 'Lovely staff, very friendly', 'I'd be lost without them' and 'Staff are always polite and very well trained.'

Staff we spoke with were positive about their role as care workers.

Is the service responsive?

We found people were asked for their views about their care and these were acted on. We saw the provider had recently sent out a quality assurance survey to people who used the service in April 2014.

We saw care staff noticed when people's needs changed and took action. People received help and support from other health professionals when required, such as GPs.

Is the service well led?

We found the service had an effective quality assurance system in place and any identified actions had led to improvements in the service people received.

People who used the service and staff told us they were able to speak with the manager and felt able to raise any issues or concerns they had. We found evidence improvements had been made to the service following investigation of concerns.

Two people we spoke with told us they had agreed to the level of care and support they received before their care plan was written. They told us they had decided the things they wanted staff to do to support them.

We found that staff were trained to support people to take their prescribed medicines when they needed them and the manager checked that staff followed the written procedures.

Staff we spoke with told us there was an induction programme for new staff, including training and shadowing experienced staff, which meant new staff got to know people before they started working with them.

People's personal records were kept in their own homes. One person we spoke with told us, 'They write everything down in my report book.' Staff we spoke with told us the information recorded was accessible and detailed enough to give them a good understanding of the person's needs. We found that the manager checked the daily records that staff completed and discussed them during their regular one to one supervision meetings.