• Services in your home
  • Homecare service

Archived: Heart of England Mencap DCA Southam

Suite 1, Clifford Mill, Clifford Road, Clifford Chambers, Stratford Upon Avon, Warwickshire, CV37 8HW (01789) 298709

Provided and run by:
Heart of England Mencap

All Inspections

9 December 2013

During a routine inspection

When we visited Heart of England Mencap DCA Southam, we spoke with the registered manager, a support worker and the provider's deputy operations manager. We met one person who used the service during our visit. We read the care records for three people who used the service. We gathered evidence of people's experiences by telephoning the relatives of four people who used the service following our visit. We also telephoned and spoke with a support worker following our visit.

People we spoke with were positive about the care they received. One person's relative told us they were, 'Happy with the care we are receiving.' Another relative told us their family member was, 'Very happy and very settled.'

Staff demonstrated they understood people's personal needs and the individual ways they communicated their needs.

We found that staff treated people with respect and gained people's consent before they supported them.

We found that staff were aware of safeguarding procedures and knew how to keep people safe. People who used the service and their relatives told us they felt safe.

We spoke with staff and found that they felt supported by their manager and felt able to raise any issues.

We found that there was a system for monitoring the quality of the service, which included customer satisfaction surveys.

We found that the service had not completed incident forms in accordance with the provider's incident reporting procedure.

29 October 2012

During a routine inspection

We visited the service on 29 October 2012 and telephoned relatives for people who use the service on 29 October 2012.

We gathered evidence of people's experiences through speaking with two relatives of people who use the service. We spoke with two members of staff for Heart of England Mencap DCA Southam.

Relatives we spoke with told us that the care received matched the care that was discussed with them for their family member. They told us that they were involved in planning the care and that reviews were held to reassess people's needs. We saw that relatives had provided information on their family member for the care plan.

We saw that the care plans were person centred and reflected people's needs. This meant that the care plan was based on the needs of the person. We saw that people's needs were reassessed and where necessary the care plan was updated.

Relatives we spoke with told us that staff were polite and exceptional. Relatives told us that it was the same members of care staff who provided their family member's personal care. Continuity of staff should mean that people receive their care consistently as staff have an increased understanding of people's needs.

We spoke with staff about what they thought abuse was and they showed they had a good awareness of the importance of keeping people safe. They understood their responsibilities for reporting any concerns regarding abuse.

20 January 2012

During a routine inspection

We spoke with two people who use the service, and with three relatives of people using the service.

Those using the service said they were happy with it, and told us the things it did for them, or helped them do. These ranged from holidays and trips to activities, to helping with cooking and shopping.

Relatives of those using the service ranged from generally positive, to being extremely enthusiastic about the staff. The consensus was that the staff and service was very good, but there were concerns as to whether the service was allocated enough hours to provide sufficient support to maintain and improve people's quality of life.

Appreciative comments concerning the staff included 'They do a fantastic job; hats off to them', and 'couldn't ask for anything better'. One person said that while they might have the occasional 'niggle', on the whole they felt the service was very good.

We spoke with two members of staff, who said they felt they were well supported by the management, given the necessary training to do the job, and worked in a 'good team'.