4 November 2015
During a routine inspection
The inspection was announced and took place on 04 November 2015. The Human Support Group - Wolverhampton provides personal care to people with a range of needs in their own home. The domiciliary care service trades as Homecare Support which is sub brand of the Human Support Group. We last inspected the service in January 2014 and did not identify any breaches of legal requirements at this time.
At the time of our inspection there were 77 people receiving the service. There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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.
People and their relatives told us they felt safe with the care workers that provided their care. There were occasions where people were concerned that planned calls were not always on time and care workers were rushed. Staff were aware of their responsibility to keep people safe and report any concerns to protect people from the risk of abuse. People had care plans and risk assessments in place that detailed their support and health needs and staff knew how to support people safely when providing care.
People received care and support from staff who knew them well. Staff received training and support from the Human Support Group Ltd (the provider) to ensure they knew how to keep people safe when providing care. The provider ensured staff were safely recruited. People felt staff skills and knowledge varied. New staff received induction training but did not always feel there was sufficient time to shadow more experienced staff so they were confident they had the experience they needed.
The provider took appropriate action to protect people’s rights and all the staff were aware of how to protect the rights of people. Care workers ensured people consented to the care they received.
People told us care workers were kind and caring. People usually received care from a consistent group of care workers which ensured they knew how people liked to be supported. People said their dignity and privacy was always respected by care workers. Care workers supported people in a way that promoted and maintained their independence.
People said they felt fully involved in their care planning process and their care was reviewed. Care workers showed they had a good awareness of people’s assessed needs and people’s personal requirements. While some people had confidence in the way the provider managed their concerns, other felt that the service did not respond to complaints they raised.
The provider had systems in place to gain people’s views and used this to inform changes to the service. Some people were very pleased with the quality of the service they received but others did not have confidence that the service was always well managed and said this impacted on the quality of the service they received. Some care workers felt motivated and well supported by the provider, whereas some felt pressured and said their morale was low. Care workers did have regular supervision and spot checks which focussed on how staff could develop their skills and knowledge.
There were processes in place to continually monitor the quality of service people received and there were changes made that had led to improvement. The provider and registered manager recognised areas for improvement and were able to tell of how they were looking to improve the service.