24 March 2016
During a routine inspection
The service had a registered manager. 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.
The provider had systems in place to ensure that people were protected from the risk of harm or abuse. We saw there were policies and procedures in place to guide staff in relation to safeguarding adults.
We found that recruitment practices were in place which included the completion of pre-employment checks prior to a new member of staff working at the service. Staff received regular training to enable them to work safely and effectively
The majority of the responses from people who spoke with the inspector was that the service was either very good or excellent. People told us they were very happy with the staff and felt that the staff understood their care needs. People confirmed that staff stayed for the length of time allocated and arrived on time. People also confirmed that calls were rarely missed and that an on-call system was always available. The majority of people we spoke with had no complaints about the service.
The staff employed by Sylvan Home Care Services knew the people they were supporting and the care they needed. People who used the domiciliary service and staff told us that Sylvan Home Care Services was well led and staff told us that they felt well supported in their roles. We saw that the manager was a visible presence and it was obvious that they knew the people who they supported really well.