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, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Crossroads Care East Midlands provides personal care and support to people in the Nottingham, Derby and Chesterfield areas. The office is located in Nottingham and was registered with CQC in December 2010. At our previous inspection in September 2013 the provider was not meeting the requirements of the law in relation to complaints. Following that inspection the provider sent us an action plan to tell us the improvements they were going to make. During this inspection we looked to see if these improvements had been made.
On the day of our inspection Crossroads Care East Midlands was providing care to 499 people. 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 manager the service and shares the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law with the provider.
All the people we spoke with told us they felt safe with the people who cared for them and the care they received in their own homes. The provider had suitable arrangements in place to ensure people who used the service were safeguarded against the risk of abuse.
Appropriate risk assessments had been undertaken to make sure the environment was safe and secure for staff to attend to people’s needs.
People were supported by appropriately skilled and trained staff because the provider had a robust recruitment process in place. We saw records that showed there was sufficient numbers of staff to cover calls in an effective and caring way. The manager told us they were recruiting at the time of our visit.
People were supported to make informed choices and staff had awareness of the Mental Capacity (MCA) Act 2005, The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is designed to protect people who do not have the capacity to make certain important decisions for themselves, because they may lack the capacity to make such decisions due to permanent or temporary problems such as mental illness, brain injury or learning disability. If people lack capacity to make a decision for themselves, staff can make a decision about what is in their best interest once an appropriate assessment had taken place. We found that the MCA was being adhered to.
Care plans were person centred and we saw people and their families were involved with reviews and updates regarding their care needs.
We saw appropriate assessments took place before people used the service to ensure the service
provided could meet their needs.
People received relevant information on how the service was run. We saw documented evidence that showed people who used the service could express their views by completing a service questionnaire. We saw a copy of the quality survey for 2013 and 2014. We found the comments were mainly positive.
Staff were able to describe how they had responded to what was important to individuals who use the service. People we spoke with told us if they wanted to raise any concerns they knew who they should contact.
The provider had arrangements in place to ensure people could use an advocacy service. Advocates are trained professionals who support, enable and empower people to speak up.
There were systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. The provider had a team in place that were responsible for undertaking monthly audits for care plans, running records, medication administration records and call monitoring systems to ensure all call are undertaken in a timely manner.