Archived: Caring about Sidmouth

The people we visited were positive about the service they received from Caring about Sidmouth and thought the agency met all their needs in a very personalised way. Both people were able to phone the agency any time that they needed assistance with mobilising. Someone who knew them from the staff team then visited as soon as possible, creating a very bespoke service.

The business is newly registered and some of the paperwork was not sufficient to ensure that people were clear about what service they were receiving. For example, details such as what extra invoiced hours were for and details about what tasks needed to be carried out by staff on each visit. Other information about people's care, such as wound dressings, people's involvement with their care planning or other agreements, risk assessments (environment, security and manual handling), policies on boundaries between staff and clients and gifts, consent to sharing information, such as agency involvement in GP visits and other health professional appointments, were not recorded clearly or at all. Although the provider is a nurse, the agency is not registered to perform nursing tasks, which remain the responsibility of healthcare professionals. There were no records showing an agreement and assessment of nursing tasks to ensure that these were carried out appropriately with the correct, up to date training whilst remaining the responsibility of the district nursing team.

We discussed these issues with the provider during the inspection who said that they would ensure that arrangements were made to address the issues. We spoke with the complex care team and social work team, who knew the people receiving the service. They said that they were happy with the care that the people were receiving and there was good communication between the agency and the health care professional team. However, they said that there were no clear records about the agency's responsibilities, roles and expectations, which did not ensure a robust system that protected people from mis-management or abuse when using the service.

However, people told us that they were very happy with the level and delivery of care and the manager and that staff were very knowledgeable about people's needs. We could see that people's needs were very well met. We saw that there was a lovely rapport between the manager and care workers and with the two people receiving the service. These people had known the manager for some years.

Everybody interviewed said that they felt quite safe and their wellbeing was being looked after. They said they had no hesitation ringing the manager if they had any concerns or complaints. They said the manager visited them regularly and they knew all of the staff team of four care workers as well as the manager.