Archived: Crossroads Care Greater Manchester

Crossroads Care Greater Manchester is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to adults and children who live in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 48 adults and seven children.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

People continued to receive a consistently good service and felt safe with the support they received from the staff.

Staff were reliable, caring and professional in their approach to their work.

People and staff spoke of the registered manager's and senior staff team’s commitment to provide a high quality of service. One relative told us, “The agency are excellent all round. Staff are genuinely caring." Another person told us, “Crossroads provide a 5 star service with continuity that is essential to my relative's needs.”

The service assessed people's needs in partnership with them to help ensure they received appropriate care that was person-centred.

The service worked in close partnership with healthcare professionals and families to ensure people’s health care needs were met. We received positive feedback from healthcare and training professionals about the service provided and the open nature of the management team.

People were safeguarded against the risks of abuse and harm by the systems and by the staff training in place. Risks to people were assessed and mitigated.

When incidents took place, the provider reflected on events to help reduce the risk of these happening again.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff had access to a comprehensive training programme developed by the company. Staffing levels were continuously reviewed to ensure there were enough staff to provide reliable, flexible and responsive care.

They worked in partnership and proactively with other organisations. This was demonstrated by the innovative Carers Link scheme set up by the provider to give unpaid carers support and a break from their caring role.

The service continued to be well-led and benefitted from clear and consistent leadership. The registered manager had improved consistency across all the offices the provider ran to ensure the quality of the service.

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 6 December 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

Crossroads Care Cheshire, Manchester and Merseyside Limited provides care to people living in their own homes. On the day of our inspection there were 67 people using the service.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

Crossroads Care Cheshire, Manchester and Merseyside Limited was last inspected by CQC on 9 January 2014 and was compliant with four of the regulations inspected at that time, but was non-compliant with Regulation 23 HSCA 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 Supporting workers.

Accidents and incidents were appropriately recorded and investigated. Risk assessments were in place for people who used the service and staff and described potential risks and the safeguards in place. Staff had been trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults. Appropriate procedures were in place to ensure people received medicines as prescribed.

There were sufficient numbers of staff on duty in order to meet the needs of people who used the service. The registered provider had an effective recruitment and selection procedure in place and carried out relevant checks when they employed staff. Staff were suitably trained and received regular supervisions and appraisals.

The registered provider was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

Staff were aware of people’s nutritional needs. Care records contained evidence of visits to and from external health care specialists.

People who used the service, and family members, were complimentary about the standard of care at Crossroads Care Cheshire, Manchester and Merseyside Limited. Staff treated people with dignity and respect and helped to maintain people’s independence by encouraging them to care for themselves where possible.

Care records showed that people’s needs were assessed before they started using the service and care plans were written in a person centred way. Activities were arranged for people who used the service based on their likes and interests and to help meet their social needs.

People who used the service, and family members, were aware of how to make a complaint and there was an effective complaints procedure in place.

Staff felt supported by the registered manager and were comfortable raising any concerns. People who used the service, family members and staff were regularly consulted about the quality of the service. People who used the service, and family members, told us the management were approachable and understanding.

One person said: "They are all very good in my house and speak to me in an appropriate manner and treat me with respect and dignity at all times."

Another person said: "The agency have a high calibre of staff who know what they are doing with my husband’s complex needs."

Someone else described Crossroads staff as "absolutely excellent carers". Another comment was: "First class, very nice people. Some have become friends they have been with me so long."

We found that Crossroads treated people with respect and maintained their dignity. We found that the care plans were thorough and updated, which encouraged high standards of care.

We found that staff were trained in safeguarding and knew what to do if they witnessed or suspected abuse of any kind.

We found that staff were well supported in some ways but that spot checks had not taken place recently. We considered this meant that the service was not supporting staff with adequate supervision and was not compliant with the relevant regulation.

Crossroads had a good policy to assure the quality of the service. We considered that the high quality reported by people using the service showed that the policy was being implemented on the whole.

People who used the service gave consent to the care they were to receive. They also gave consent to the way confidential information may be shared with other agencies, on a need to know basis only. One person said, “I gave consent for my care. I remember we discussed it at some length”. Also, “I am aware that some of my information could be looked at. I know it’s for my benefit”.

People told us they had received a visit from a representative from the agency before the service commenced. They told us their needs had been discussed and they had agreed to the support to be provided. People we spoke with told us their carers provided sensitive and flexible personal care and they felt well cared for.

People told us they could contact the head office whenever they felt it was necessary and voice their concerns if they had any. At the time of the inspection the three people we spoke with did not have any concerns. One person told us, “I know how to make a complaint if I need to".

We saw there were recruitment systems in place to make sure staff were suitable to work with people using the agency. One person told us, “I went through all the checks before I could start to work for Crossroads. That makes sure they take it seriously”.