Crossroads Care Surrey

About the service

Crossroads Care Surrey is a domiciliary care agency offering support with respite cover for carers who are close friends or relatives caring for people in their homes. This includes support with personal care and at the time of our inspection there were 169 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Right Support: This unique service offers respite for family members who are unpaid carers. We saw evidence of this model of care ensuring people’s choice, control and independence was reached to the maximum possibility when staff were supporting people in the absence of their unpaid carer. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care: Staff all thoughtfully applied person-centred care. We saw evidence of how staff supported people respecting their privacy, promoting their dignity and ensuring they maintained their human rights.

Right Culture: The provider, registered manager, management team and staff all strove for an excellent level of care. Staff felt supported by management and the registered manager was supported by a large management team that all worked cohesively together to retain an outstanding level of care. People and their relatives were included in all decisions about their care and people lived empowered lives as a result of the support provided by Crossroads Care Surrey.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 10 October 2017).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

There was a registered manager in post. 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 was a risk that people’s rights would not be protected because people had not consented to care in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). The registered manager accepted this and planned to carry out mental capacity assessments at people’s next reviews.

Carers felt that the people they cared for were safe. People’s care records contained up to date risk assessments to guide staff in how to protect people from risks whilst enabling them to remain independent. People were protected against the risks of potential abuse because the provider followed safe recruitment practices and staff knew how to safeguard people. People were supported by sufficient staff to meet their individual needs, and medicines were administered safely.

People received individualised care from staff who had the skills, knowledge and understanding needed to carry out their roles. Staff were supported and received regular supervision.

People’s dietary needs and preferences were met. People’s health care needs were monitored and any changes in their health or well-being were reported to their carer. For those people receiving end of life care staff worked in partnership with hospices, palliative care teams and community nurses to support people.

People were treated with kindness and compassion and staff knew people well. People were matched with staff according to their interests and received care from regular staff. Staff promoted people’s privacy and dignity and encouraged their independence.

Care plans were detailed and contained information on how people’s needs should be met as well as their lifestyles and preferences. Carers and the people they were cared for were involved in developing their care plans. People’s needs were assessed and their care was regularly reviewed.

People had access to activities and were able to choose what activities they took part in. Carers knew how to make a complaint and raise concerns. Carers had their concerns responded to.

The registered manager promoted a positive culture and supported their staff. Staff were involved in the running of the service. Carers had opportunities to feed back their views about the quality of the service they received. Audits and surveys were completed and were used to make improvements to the service carers and the people they cared for received.