15 January 2016
During a routine inspection
We carried out this announced inspection by visiting the office on 15 January 2016. Following this, we spoke with people who used the service and members of staff by telephone. At the time of the inspection, the service provided care and support for 26 older people in their own homes.
The service has 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.
There were systems in place to safeguard people from the possible risk of harm. There were risk assessments in place to provide guidance to staff on how risks to people could be managed and minimised. However, the provider did not have an effective recruitment process in place to ensure that staff employed to work for the service were suitable for their roles.
Staff were skilled and knowledgeable in how to support people in accordance with their agreed care plans. Staff received regular supervision and support, and had been trained to meet people’s individual needs.
Staff were aware of their responsibilities and understood their roles to seek people’s consent prior to care being provided. People received care and support from a team of caring and respectful staff.
People’s needs had been assessed, and care plans took account of their individual needs, preferences, and choices. The provider had a formal process for handling complaints and concerns.
The provider did not have effective quality monitoring processes in place. Regular audits had not been carried out and people’s views had not been sought in a formalised way regarding the quality of the service. The manager was approachable and promoted a caring culture within the service.
You can see what actions we have told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.