Alcedo Care Central and East Lancashire

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.

This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated good. This meant the service was generally well managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality care.

This service scored 68 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities.

Although senior leaders understood the context in which the service delivered care, treatment and support, some leaders needed to improve their approach to this as they were not always as responsive as they could be.

Staff told us they felt supported in their role and that the management were approachable and fair to staff, though some concerns were raised about the office staff not always being proactive. This sentiment was shared by some family members. A family member said, “The carers themselves are generally good, and I don’t want to complain about them personally – they are doing their jobs. But the leadership needs to listen more closely and take quicker action when something is raised that could improve someone’s care experience.” We found the management team approachable throughout our inspection.

The service fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

Staff were able to explain what whistleblowing was. The provider had policies and procedures in place to support speaking up including a whistleblowing policy available to staff. Staff were able to speak up confidentially using a speak up app on their mobile devices.

The service valued diversity in their workforce. They work towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who work for them.

Staff told us they were treated equally and fairly. The service employed staff from diverse backgrounds. An equality and diversity policy was in place which set out how the service supports staff in this area.

Although the service had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability or good governance, some minor improvements were needed to ensure issues were identified and acted upon consistently.

Some people’s records lacked consistency in minor areas, for example one person’s records said they had a dentist but held no contact details. They had assessment in relation to choking but this could have been clearer in some areas of the care plan, whilst another person’s assessments had conflicting information. These areas were addressed during our inspection and there was no impact on people because of this.

As mentioned in this report, some people did not always feel their suggestions or concerns were acted upon promptly. Multiple audits and oversight tools were in place and for the most part they were robust. However, care plan reviews had not identified the minor issues and inconsistencies we found during our inspection. Some people’s feedback had not led to the provider making improvements in areas such as person-centred care and staffing. The providers audit had identified some improvements were required to care planning. The registered manager spoke about how they will further drive improvement in this area and was very responsive during our inspection.

Provider oversight was robust with various audits in place including a ‘deep dive’ audit. Staff told us they felt the service was well managed. Staff spoke to us passionately about their role. One staff member said, “Working with the children. I take the role of the parent for 5 hours. Parents trust me and have faith in me. I get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction from this job. I have a great sense of achievement at the end of the day.” The provider had a ‘Good branch model’ which is a guidance document that supports managers to seek out any potential issues and drive improvement.

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services work seamlessly for people. They share information and learning with partners and collaborate for improvement.

People and their relatives generally felt the service worked in partnership, one relative told us, "Alcedo Care are a great company. The whole team communicates well and works together. From the carers themselves to whoever’s managing the communication behind the scenes, it all runs smoothly. I always feel informed and reassured." We saw examples of the service working with various organisations.

Staff spoke about how they support people to access the community. One staff member spoke about supporting a person to access a knitting club. One professional told us, “The service works closely with myself to ensure continuity and consistency is achieved across all services.”

People could gain access to advocates when needed. The service worked with the local community to support fundraisers and became involved in Christmas events to support the wider community.

The service focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contribute to safe, effective practice and research.

Staff felt lessons learned were shared with them. One staff member said, "Yes (lessons learned are shared) at meetings they talk about lessons learned when things have gone wrong." We saw various examples of the service learning from incidents and from feedback forms.