Gemcare South West Plymouth

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has remained requires improvement.

This meant people did not always feel well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

This service scored 55 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.

Since our last assessment, more people and relatives now describe staff as caring and professional and told us they generally feel safe with their regular care staff. One person said their main carer “goes above and beyond,” and another described staff as “kind, patient and caring”. Care plans placed clear emphasis on dignity, including covering people during personal care and avoiding rushing.

Staff told us communication and support from the new manager have now improved, but these changes are still embedding.

The provider did not always treat people as individuals or make sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences.

One relative told us, they had been involved with the review of a person’s care plan, however the care plan was incorrect, and support was not always provided in line with the preferred routine.

People and relatives told us regular carers knew them well, followed their preferred routines and listened to what matters to them. Care plans included life histories, daily routines and some preferences about food, personal care and how people liked to be addressed. Since the introduction of a new electronic care planning system, some people told us they have now been involved in reviewing their care.

The provider did not always promote people’s independence, or make sure they had choice and control over their care, treatment and daily routines.

The service did not always consider people’s choice and control over their care, treatment, and wellbeing in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People told us they were often not informed when visit times changed, so they could not always plan their day, and some said staff arrived very early or late for morning and evening calls. Electronic call monitoring showed most visits were on time, but a small number were late or were shorter than planned, including for people who needed two staff. A relatives described occasions where they helped with care tasks because a second carer was not present for the whole visit.

Most relatives told us they had control over everyday decisions. Comments included, “(Person’s name) has control over every day decisions,” and “They (Carers) know (Person’s name) routine and follow it”.

The provider did not always listen to and respond to people’s immediate needs or act quickly to reduce their discomfort, concern or distress.

People and relatives told us they could raise concerns but did not always feel action was taken. The new manager has begun to use electronic monitoring and audits to track visit lengths and timing, but these systems are not yet embedded.

A professional told us, the service identify risks to people’s health and well-being to avoid any deterioration and escalate to external professionals. We saw records of deterioration in a person’s health being escalated to the GP.

The provider did not always support workforce wellbeing or enable staff to deliver consistent person‑centred care.

Staff told us they valued the new manager, describing her as supportive, proactive and improving communication, meetings and rota processes, and some felt induction and shadowing for new staff were more effective. However, there were ongoing concerns about staffing pressures, limited travel time between visits and high workloads for some staff, which they felt contributed to late and shortened calls. Staff told us they had seen improvements since the new manager had been in post, and that they felt more able to speak up, than they had previously.

The provider has started to roll out additional training, including statutory learning disability and autism training, and uses recognition schemes.