Plymouth Care Services Limited provides personal care to people who live in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to eight predominantly elderly people. The service normally provides visits to support people to get up in the morning, to go to bed in the evening and to prepare meals during the day. The service was registered in 2014 and has not previously been inspected. There was a registered manager in post at the time of this inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Everyone we spoke with told us they were safe and well cared for. People said, “I am definitely safe”, “The staff are very polite, friendly and helpful”, “Plymouth Care Services are a very good, small company” and “I would recommend them to anyone.”
Staff and the registered manager knew people well and had a detailed understanding of each person’s individual care needs. People told us, “I do have a regular group of staff”, “The staff are very good, very kind and caring” and “I get on very well with them, we have a laugh and they are very kind.” Visit schedules showed people normally received support from staff they knew well and staff told us, “I see the same people every day.”
Staff visits schedules included appropriate travel time. Daily care records showed that people’s care visits were normally provided on time and for the correct visit length. People said they did not feel rushed during their care visit and told us, “I have a list every week of who is coming”, “They are always on time” and “I always get the full time.” Staff told us, “I do have enough time during the visit and you get about 15 minutes between visits for travel time” and “We do not shorten visits, If I am running late I ring the office and they will phone and let people know I will be late.”
People told us they had not experienced missed care visit and we found no evidence of care visits having been missed during our inspection. Each day either the registered manager or senior carer was on call and responsible for providing staff with support outside of office hours and ensuring all planned care visit were provided. Staff told us this system worked well and commented, “On call is always easy to get hold of.”
The service’s recruitment practices were safe and staff received regular training to ensure they were sufficiently skilled to meet people’s care needs. This training was provided face to face by suitably qualified external trainers. Staff told us, “I have done loads of training” and “The training is very good.” In addition, staff new to the care sector had been supported to complete the care certificate during their probationary period.
People’s care plans were sufficiently detailed to enable staff to meet their specific needs. These documents had been developed by the senior carer from information gathered during assessments visits to the person’s own home and from staff experiences during initial care visits. Care plans provided staff with step by step guidance on how to meet people’s needs during each planned care visit. Staff told us, “The care plans are good, they tell you what you have to do” and “They are really thorough care plans, with risk assessments and body maps and lots of detail.”
The registered manager provided effective leadership to the well-motivated staff team. Staff told us, “The registered manager is really good” and “It’s a brilliant place to work” and “[The registered manager] is very good, she has high standards and is very focused on the service users, She wants people to see the same staff and to have continuity of care.”
The service’s records were well organised and there were appropriate systems in place to monitor the quality of care the service provided. Spot checks of staff performance during care visits were completed regularly and the registered manger routinely visited people at home to discuss people’s experiences of the care provided.