Caremark Lewes and Wealden North

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 newly registered service. This key question has been rated good.

This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 75 (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 put the safe care of people at the centre of any plans for the future of the service. They told us that recruiting the right staff with the right knowledge and passion for care was equally as important to ensure the continued provision of the best care possible for people. The registered manager was an experienced manager but was confident to reach out for advice and support if needed and was willing to share positive practice and learn from when things went wrong. They had introduced a ‘topic of the month’ which supported the ongoing training for staff and provided a focus on a particular issue. Topics so far had included, dementia awareness, making sure people were safe in very hot weather and mental capacity awareness.

The registered manager had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. The management team at the service was small but effective. They provided support to staff and whenever an incident occurred or at any time staff needed on site support, the registered manager or one of the management team would immediately attend. An on-call system was in place so managers could be contacted out of hours if needed. Staff told us this was effective and was frequently used for advice and support. Staff told us of an open-door policy where the registered manager and wider management team were accessible, approachable and always supportive to them. A staff member told ius, “The managers are always really supportive and approachable. Always respond quickly. Don’t feel you can’t approach.”

The registered manager fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff were provided with every opportunity to speak up and raise issues, concerns or to highlight good or poor practice. Staff had regular 1 to 1 meetings with the registered manager and told us they felt confident to raise issues and that they would be listened to and acted on if appropriate. Although team meetings had yet to start, the registered manager had only been in post for a few months at the time of the assessment, one was planned and a newsletter had been sent to staff to keep them up to date and informed. The management team frequently visited staff when on site at visits and this again provided opportunities for them to discuss issues if needed. There were other ways for staff to speak up including a dedicated mobile phone application where issues could be raised and discussed remotely.

The registered manager valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Equality and diversity policies were in place and reviewed regularly. Staff told us of an inclusive working environment where everyone felt comfortable coming to work and where cultural and religious differences were celebrated.

The registered manager had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. A system of monthly and 3 monthly auditing was in place overseen by the registered manager. These processes were further overseen by regional managers to ensure consistency across services. All areas were reviewed by the registered manager for example, training, care plans, risk assessments and care notes. Meaningful comments were attached to the audits with action points raised to ensure improvements in practice. A recent example was where the standard of on-site notes had declined and not enough detail was being provided. The registered manager wrote an exemplar, an example of a perfect on-site note entry following a care call. This was received well by staff and improvements were seen in subsequent audit reports. Use of the mobile phone application for staff starting and ending their care calls was a useful and immediate tool for managers to monitor the duration of calls and the welfare of their staff.

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 told us of positive working relationships with health and social care providers and this view was reciprocated by professionals. One told us, “The communication between Caremark and our management team is always sufficient. The handover they give us shows they know their clients very well, they inform us of any concerns they might have and advise if we need to refer to adult social care.” The registered manager was aware of their responsibilities under the duty of candour. Legally, certain events and incidents that happen where the service has been involved, they must report to the local authority and CQC. This obligation had been met.

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 adopted a learning culture at the service. Following any accident, incident, safeguarding concern or complaint, there would be a full debrief with staff involved and then a sharing of information and learning. Staff told us this was a comfortable way of learning from errors or where things had not gone as they should have done. Staff did not feel blamed for wrongdoing but rather empowered by learning.