• Services in your home
  • Homecare service

Archived: Thera North

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

The West House, Alpha Court, Swingbridge Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 7XT 0300 303 1283

Provided and run by:
Thera Trust

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

All Inspections

6 December 2016

During a routine inspection

This announced inspection was carried out between 6 December 2016 and 23 January 2017. Thera North is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care across the northern counties of Cumbria, Lancashire and County Durham to people with learning disabilities who are living independently. Some of these are shared tenancies with other people who also receive personal care and support from Thera North, and others are single tenancies. Prior to the inspection the provider informed us that they were providing services to 50 people receiving personal care. Staff work in small teams and provide personal care and support to people in a single or small number of properties in these geographical areas.

The service had a registered manager in place at the time of our 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.

People were supported by staff who understood the risks people could face and knew how to make people feel safe. People were encouraged to be independent and risks were mitigated in the least restrictive way possible.

People were supported by consistent staff who they knew. People who required support to take their medicines received assistance to do so when this was needed.

People were provided with the care and support they wanted by staff who were trained and supported to do so. People’s human right to make decisions for themselves was respected and they provided consent to their care when needed. Where people were unable to do so the provider followed the Mental Capacity Act 2005 legal framework to make the least restrictive decisions in people’s best interest.

People were supported by staff who understood their health conditions and ensured they had sufficient to eat and drink to maintain their wellbeing.

People were treated with dignity and respect and their privacy was protected. Where possible people were involved in making decisions about their care and support.

People were able to influence the way their care and support was delivered and they could rely on this being provided as they wished. People were informed on how to express any issues or concerns they had so these could be investigated and acted upon.

People were supported by a service which was person centred and put their interests first. However the systems in place to monitor the quality of the service were not being followed so that improvements could be made when needed.

24 February 2014

During a routine inspection

Prior to the inspection we reviewed all the information we had received from the provider. To gain the views and experiences of people who used the service we spoke with five people. We also spoke with two out of nine relatives who initially agreed to participate in the inspection.

We visited the provider's office to look at service records and information. Over the course of the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, the personal assistant (PA) for the provider, one operational manager and four senior members of staff, including community support leaders, team coordinators and eight support workers.

People told us they were happy with the care and support provided. One person said, 'I've got a good life. I like the staff.' Another person told us, 'The staff help me to do activities and go on holiday with me.'

Relatives said they were happy with the quality of the service provided to their family member. Comments included, 'Overall it's an excellent service. There has been an increase in bank staff but the core team are superb.'

Support workers received appropriate training and support. The provider had internal quality, monitoring and audit systems in place.

12, 13 September 2012

During a routine inspection

We found that people were encouraged to make choices for themselves and were asked about what was important to them and how they would like their care to be delivered.

People said that before any service had started a staff member called a 'new support advisor' had visited them to ask them to ask about how they wanted things doing.

A relative we spoke with told us that staff took time to get to know the people they supported and that this helped to improve people's confidence. The relative told us, 'The staff come to us with ideas rather than just doing something. Then we all get involved in the review to check how things are developing.'

The people we spoke with also said that staff understood how to meet their needs. They told us how they listened to them and that they were competent in their work. One person told us, 'The staff all know me well. I have a support plan that the staff use. It shows what care I have, what I like and don't like and my benefits.'

People told us they felt safe and that they could tell staff if they were unhappy in anyway. One person said, 'If I am not happy I can talk to the boss and it gets sorted out.'

Staff told us that they received training and support to enable them to do their job safely. One person said, "My support worker is brilliant."

People who used the service were asked for their views about their care and they were acted on. Records showed that there were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service.