The Care Quality Commission

Archived: Living at Home Service - Charter Centre

36 London Road, Bexhill On Sea, East Sussex, TN39 3JU (01424) 726750

Provided and run by:
East Sussex County Council

All Inspections

3 October 2013

During a routine inspection

When we inspected this service we visited the office. We looked at a range of records and spoke at length with the manager. We also spoke with two other staff. We accompanied a senior support worker on a monitoring visit to someone in their own home. We telephoned a further four support staff and 10 people who used the service to gain their views.

All the people who used the service spoke positively about their experiences of support and said that they were involved in decisions about this. People valued the support they had been given and had found this 'helpful'. People commented: 'I can't fault the service', 'The girls are really friendly and helpful', 'Very good so far', 'lovely girls couldn't ask for more'.

When we spoke with staff they confirmed that they felt well supported and received appropriate training for their role. We looked at staff recruitment files and saw that an appropriate range of checks had been made on new applicants before they commenced work.

We saw that there was a well-established quality assurance framework and that people using the service were asked for their views. There was a low level of complaints about the service and these were resolved quickly.

13 September 2012

During a routine inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service. We also spoke with relatives for two people who used the service but were unable to tell us about their experiences themselves. All the people we spoke with commented positively about the service they or their relative received. People said they found staff helpful and kind. They said that staff involved other professionals such as occupational therapists, or physiotherapists where they identified a need. People said they felt they had benefitted from being supported by the service.

A few people were able to provide examples of where staff input had improved their quality of life and in one example we were told the person's life had been saved by a support worker. Two people we spoke with whilst commenting that overall they found the service excellent raised issues about continuity of staff. One person said they did not always get the allocated amount of time on some of their calls.

Other comments received were:

'They lived up to expectations', 'They are wonderful, lifesavers' 'Their being there gives me confidence to do things for myself'