The Care Quality Commission

Archived: Courtesy Care Limited

Melody House, St Georges, Chard Street, Axminster, Devon, EX13 5DL (01297) 35985

Provided and run by:
Courtesy Care Limited

Important: This service is now registered at a different address - see new profile

All Inspections

23 March 2012

During a routine inspection

This inspection took place on 23 and 26 March 2012. On the first day we carried out an unannounced visit to the agency office where we met with the provider and two senior members of the management team. We looked at the records held in the office for six people chosen at random, including their care plans, daily reports, and records of medicines administered. We also looked at the procedures followed by the agency to plan care workers weekly rotas, and the methods of planning the care provided to each person to ensure they received visits at, or near, the agreed times. We checked the records of training, supervision and support given to the staff team. We also looked at the way the agency had checked the quality of the services they provided.

On the second day of our inspection we visited four people in their homes to find out if they were satisfied that the service they received fully met their needs. We also met two care workers and two relatives during our visits.

Following this inspection we also talked to ten people who received a care service, one relative and four care workers on the telephone

People told us they were happy with the service. Comments included

'I have a lovely crowd of carers. Anything I need I get.'

'They are really lovely, all of them. Five star plus!'

'They go the extra mile'

'I think they are well trained.'

People told us they had a consistent team of carers who understood their care needs. They received a timetable each week to tell them who would be visiting, and the day and time of the visits. They said care workers were usually on time, and they had never missed a visit. They said the service was reliable.

We were given examples of new care workers being introduced to people before they began working unsupervised. People told us that new care workers were always shadowed by an experienced member of the staff team to ensure they understood how each care task should be completed. One person who used equipment to help them move around their home said that all care workers had received training from a health professional on how to use the equipment safely.

We found there were effective measures in place to make sure people were protected from the risk of harm or abuse. Most people said they had never had any concerns, but a few people had experienced a minor problem in the past but said these had all been resolved very quickly and professionally. Every person we talked to said they would have no hesitation in raising any problems or concerns in the future as they had every confidence in the agency to take the matter seriously and take any action necessary.

People told us they were confident that the care workers had received a good range of training. We saw evidence to support this in the records we saw.

The agency had a range of measures in place to check that people were receiving a good quality service, and we saw evidence of actions they had taken to make improvements where necessary.