Archived: Community Activity Sitting Service

We spoke with seven people, two relatives, staff and other people connected to the service. Everyone praised the staff and the service provided. One person said, 'I have lots of friends here.' A relative told us, 'Staff have supported me and continue to do so.'

We found records to show how people's needs had been assessed before they started to use the service. We then found care plans and associated risk assessments were completed once the person started to use the service. People were supported to remain as independent as possible.

People were supported by staff to attend health appointments and the service worked with others to provide for example, the memory caf'. One carer using the caf' who did not access the service told us, 'Staff are very professional with the people they looked after.'

We saw that there was enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet people's needs.

Supervision and appraisal of staff performance had not been carried out in line with company policy and this meant that staff did not receive appropriate professional development.

We found that systems were in place to monitor the service that people received, including people surveys and management audits.

We found that staff were using out of date policies and procedures, even though current electronic versions were available.

Assessments of needs were carried out before people joined the service to ensure the service was able to meet their needs. People and their families were consulted and needs discussed to ensure staff knew the types of activities people enjoyed. Some reviews of people's needs took place however sometimes this was not the case which increased the risk to people that they could receive support which was inappropriate.

The service didn't provide people it supported with equipment however staff made sure that any equipment they accessed when supporting people was safe to use before using it.

People were supported by staff who had undergone the correct pre employment checks thus ensuring that people were supported by people who had relevant experience and knowledge.

People we spoke with did not feel that they had cause to complain about the service however they were aware of how to do so if they needed to. One person had raised a concern and told us that the manager had met with them and dealt with it quickly. There was a complaints process in place however we found that some of the information within the complaints policy held within the office was out of date. This was rectified during our inspection.