Castlerock Recruitment Group is registered to provide personal care to people living in the Blackburn and Darwen area to support people to remain as independent as possible in their own homes. Castlerock Recruitment Group also provides staff for sitting services, domestic support, social outings and shopping visits. They can also provide services at night such as sleep-ins and waking nights to support both service users and family based carers.
This is the first comprehensive inspection since the service registered on the 16 June 2014.
The service did not have a registered manager. However a staff member had applied to be registered with the Care Quality Commission and was awaiting an interview. 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.
Staff were aware of and had been trained in safeguarding procedures to help protect the health and welfare of people who used the service. All the people who used the service said they felt safe.
Risk assessments for health needs or environmental hazards helped protect the health and welfare of people who used the service but did not restrict their lifestyles.
Plans of care were individual to each person, showed staff had taken account of their wishes and were regularly reviewed.
Although people who used the service lived in their own houses and chose what they ate staff were trained in nutrition and safe food handling to give advice to people about their meals.
The agency asked for people’s views around how the service was performing and we saw evidence that the registered manager responded to their views.
There was a suitable complaints procedure for people to voice their concerns. The people we spoke with said they did not have any concerns but knew how to contact the office if they did.
We observed a good rapport between people who used the service and staff. We saw that staff appeared to know people well and understand their needs.
Staff were recruited using current guidelines to help minimise the risk of abuse to people who used the service.
Staff were trained in medicines administration and supported people to take their medicines if it was a part of their care package.
Staff received an induction and were supported when they commenced work to become competent to work with vulnerable people. Staff were well trained and supervised to feel confident within their roles. Staff were encouraged to take further training and become involved in providing support for subjects such as quality assurance.
Policies, procedures and the staff handbook guided staff about good care and practice issues.
Management conducted audits to ensure the service was performing well or devised an action plan for any area they found lacking.
The office was suitable for providing a domiciliary care service and was staffed during office hours and out of hours for people to contact.