We carried out an unannounced site visit to the Agincare Wolverhampton office. This means they did not know we were visiting. We used a number of methods to find out people's experience of using the service. We looked at care records, systems in place for the safe management of medicines, staff training programmes and systems in operation to monitor the quality of service provided to people.Prior to our site visit we carried out telephone interviews with one person and three advocates for people who use the service. We also carried out telephone interviews with four care staff.
We found that a needs assessment was undertaken before people were offered a package of care. This assessment should enable the service to identify the person's care needs, specialist equipment required, the level of support needed and what training staff require to assist them appropriately.
One person who uses the service said, 'Someone from the agency came to see me and asked what support I needed.'
We saw that up to date care plans and risk assessments were in place to support staff's understanding of people's care needs.
Care records contained information about people's cultural and religious needs. An advocate for a person who uses the service said, 'The agency always sends carers who can speak our language and have an understanding of our culture and faith.'
Staff members had access to relevant information about how to safeguard people from potential abuse and demonstrated a reasonably understanding of their responsibility of sharing information of concern with relevant agencies.
Information obtained from the staff training programme and discussions with care staff and the registered manager confirmed that not all staff had received necessary essential training, to ensure they have the skills and competence to deliver a safe effective service.
We found that the service had a satisfactory quality assurance system in place to monitor the quality of service provided to people.
One person who uses the service said, 'The care staff always ask me if I'm happy with the service provided and the staff from the office also contact me to find out if I'm satisfied with the service.'
We found that records were well maintained and provided up to date information to demonstrate the service provided to people.