Archived: WarrenCare Wirral

Updated 19 February 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.

An Adult Social Care inspector visited the office on 18 December 2015 and looked at records, which included ten people’s care records, ten staff files, and other records relating to the management of the service.

48 hours’ notice was given because the service is a domiciliary service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

We spoke with the incoming manager, the Group Operations Director, training manager, the assessment and review officer and seven other members of staff. The visit was followed up with telephone calls to people who used the service carried out by an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using, or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert by experience spoke with nine people who used the service and seven relatives of a person who used the service.

Before our inspection, we looked at information the Care Quality Commission (CQC) had received about the service including notifications received from the registered manager. We checked that we had received these in a timely manner. We also looked at safeguarding referrals, complaints and any other information from members of the public. We also checked with the local authority quality assurance team and the local Healthwatch organisation to see if they had any concerns or information about the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

Updated 19 February 2016

We carried out an announced inspection of Warrencare Wirral on 18 December 2015.

The visit was announced. WarrenCare Wirral provides care and support to people living in their own homes on the Wirral. At the time of our visit, the service was providing support for 206 people. Not all of the people who used the service required help with personal care. Some people had support with household tasks which may be once or twice or week, while others had support when going out.

The service had a registered manager who is currently in the process of de-registering and a new manager is in post applying for registration. 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.

The provider had systems in place to ensure that people were protected from the risk of harm or abuse. We saw there were policies and procedures in place to guide staff in relation to safeguarding adults.

The care records we looked at contained good information about the support people required and recognised people’s needs. All records we saw were complete, up to date and regularly audited. We found that people were involved in decisions about their care and support.

People who spoke with the expert by experience said that the service was good but at times there had been missed calls or visits had not been at the appropriate times.

We found that good recruitment practices were in place which included the completion of pre-employment checks prior to a new member of staff working at the service. Staff received a comprehensive induction programme and had regular training to enable them to work safely and effectively. Staff were able to tell us about abuse and how to prevent or report it.