Alex C&C Healthcare Ltd

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.

This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated requires improvement. We found improvements were needed to the provider’s governance arrangements around care planning, safe recruitment of staff and how people’s medicines were being managed. The service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to governance at the service.

This service scored 62 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The registered manager had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. The registered manager sought feedback from people and their families. They provided staff with training and learning opportunities so they could provide the best care possible. The values of the organisation were to ensure people were treated with compassion, kindness, and to ensure people’s changing needs were supported.

The registered manager was also the nominated individual for the service. They were supported by a care co-ordinator who provided care and support to people and administration tasks in the office. The registered manager spoke of the importance of being flexible and available to people and their families, staff and professionals. Staff felt supported by the registered manager and said it was a nice place to work. One member of staff told us, “Happy working here, the registered manager supports me.” Another member of staff told us, “There is flexible working and support”. The registered manager was passionate about delivering the best care possible to people and this included providing care to people themself. This they felt was an important part of knowing people and their individual needs. We discussed this with the registered manager, as supporting people with their care could have an impact on the management of the service and what they were responsible for.

The registered manager had a positive culture where staff could raise concerns with them. Staff had meetings and training sessions with the registered manager. Staff felt supported and able to discuss any concerns with the management of the service.

The registered manager valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. The registered manager supported staff flexibly and they had an open-door policy. Staff could visit the office where they could access the staff room and refreshment area provided to them. The registered manager also gave examples where staff were provided with lunches and meals as additional benefits to working for the agency and where staff had an individual culture and religion the registered manager supported this.

The registered manager who was also the provider was not ensuring there was good governance arrangements in place to identify shortfalls found during this inspection. For example, where care plans needed more information about the person. This included their life histories, likes and dislikes, and information such as if they had any accessible needs. We also identified shortfalls to ensuring there were safe recruitment procedures in place and that medicines including topical creams were being managed as required. We shared this feedback with the registered manager so they could review their quality assurance systems and improvements required.

Although we identified shortfalls to the provider’s quality assurance system. The registered manager had a good knowledge of the service and people’s individual care needs and families were happy with the care provided.

The registered manager understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. The registered manager sought feedback from people about the care and support provided by the service and care staff. Positive feedback included, “Absolutely brilliant team very understandable and good at collaborating with their clients” and “This was carried out by 2 carers who were very pleasant and helpful, with care and compassion”. The registered manager confirmed they regularly liaised with health and social care professionals and commissioners to ensure the best care possible was provided to people through partnership working.

The registered manager focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research. The registered manager confirmed no formal complaints had been raised about the service. They made referrals and shared information with commissioners and health and social care professionals when they needed to. They undertook monthly reviews of incidents and accidents, and these reviews confirmed any actions and learning needed. Staff were provided bespoke learning opportunities and the registered manager had aspirations to further develop staff and the training available to them.