GoodOaks Homecare

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has changed to requires improvement. This meant the management and leadership was inconsistent. Leaders and the culture they created did not always support the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

The service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to governance checks of care records and recruitment records.

This service scored 62 (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 had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. The registered manager instilled GoodOaks Homecare’s values of ‘professionalism, respect, integrity, dedication and empathy’ into staff through training, meetings, spot checks and supervision. The provider ensured staff understood the challenges of people they supported and provided relevant training courses. Staff took part in immersive training experiences to help them understand what it could be like to live with dementia. A staff member told us about this experience and said, “Because we do a lot of training, I am getting to learn a lot of things I didn’t know. Each month we have a scheduled training and I feel I am learning and progressing more. We did the dementia bus and it helped us understand what some clients go through, it’s a big progress for us to learn more so when we go to clients with dementia we understand how they are feeling. It is important to know they feel and why this (behaviours of emotion) may have happened. You can understand if they might get anxious and we understand what they are going through. Because of the training we understand them better.” The nominated individual told us they had booked a similar ‘Autism bus’ experience for staff. Staff attended meetings and had 1 to 1 supervisions with their line managers, they told us they were helpful and informative.

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They always did so with integrity, openness and honesty. People, their relatives, professionals and staff all spoke highly of the leadership of the service. Comments included, “[Registered manager] is my favourite lady.” And, “My experience working with GoodOaks is positive. Their management is responsive, professional and empathetic.” And, “[Registered manager] is good as a manager, I usually see them when I go to the office and also with new clients. What [registered manager] does is very good, they go with me and introduces me and the client and stays to show to me what to do.” The registered manager led by example and occasionally delivered direct support to people, they told us this was an effective way of reviewing their care needs and receiving feedback. They told us ways of how they gathered people’s opinions and said, “I speak with them (people) mostly on the phone, or will go out and do this face to face and we have more informal chats.” Feedback was shared with staff for ongoing learning and improvements, a staff member said, “My client’s feedback is very important for me because I can improve my services according to their wishes.” The registered manager demonstrated a passion for their role and the people they supported, they continued to develop their own skills and knowledge and were working towards an operations manager qualification. They had won an award for the best leadership in care, which was run by Business Awards UK. The registered manager understood their obligations under the duty of candour. They told us, “We have a legal and ethical obligation to be open, honest and transparent with our clients and their families when things go wrong with their care and treatment, we inform them as soon as possible and provide a truthful explanation offering an apology, and outlining what actions we have taken to prevent it from happening again.” We saw an example where they had applied the duty of candour.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff told us they had the freedom to speak up if they were concerned about anything. A staff member commented, “I would report any concerns straight away to my line manager or the designated safeguarding lead.” And, “We are encouraged to share ideas for improvement during team meetings, supervisions, or by speaking directly with our manager.” There was a whistle-blowing policy in place which contained national contact details for staff to speak up if needed, however, the contact details for the local authority did not reflect local arrangements. Upon receiving our feedback, the registered manager updated the policy.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Staff were from a diverse range of backgrounds. The registered manager made reasonable adjustments for staff to respect and meet their protected characteristics, a staff member told us how they were permitted to slightly change their uniform to honour their culture. A member of the management team told us how overseas staff were supported to adjust to life in the UK. A long standing overseas staff member provided buddy support for new staff to introduce them to the British culture. A social care professional commented on this and said, “GoodOaks employ numerous workers from overseas and it was noted they offer informal training on cooking, making tea and other key areas where there might be cultural differences between the overseas staff and the clients.”

The provider did not have clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They were not always used to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. Quality assurance processes did not identify where care records required updating, targets were to check 10% of care plan audits a month, however, this had not always been achieved. Some people’s care records were not always up to date and there were some inconsistencies between MAR charts, medicine risk assessments, hospital passports and care plans. We discussed these concerns with the registered manager who told us they would undertake a full review of records, they were in the process of training additional office staff to assist with the auditing and completion of care records. Recruitment file audits did not identify that pre-employment checks were not always in place. 2 out of the 3 recruitment files which did not contain current DBS checks and/or references had been audited by a member of the management team, the omitted documents were not identified during these checks. The registered manager told us they would be overseeing recruitment processes to ensure all future checks would be in place for new staff before they commenced their duties. Although we identified these concerns, other audits and checks were effective in driving improvements. Our records confirmed the registered manager understood their duty to notify CQC of events within the service.

The provider clearly understood and carried out their duty to collaborate and worked in partnership, and services worked seamlessly for people. They always shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. The registered manager and nominated individual placed a high emphasis on engaging with the community. They shared their involvement with events and initiatives where the service had held talks on care related subjects and sponsored local events, such as, an Easter egg hunt and a marathon. The registered manager told us about a campaign they were working on called ‘you are not alone’ which was designed to provide support for relatives/unpaid carers. They had attended a local St George’s Day celebration and provided talks on the subject, they also produced guidance about caring for people living with dementia and a care funding guide. The registered manager told us, “People don’t know where they can go (for advice).” Through the ‘you are not alone’ campaign, the registered manager linked with the local GP surgery and Mid-Sussex Older People’s Council to provide free respite relief for unpaid carers. The registered manager had created links with a new local care home which was due to be opened soon, the intention was to provide mutual support and share training space. Other leaflets and guides were distributed where needed, such as, self-care for unpaid carers, falls prevention, nutrition and hydration, the guides also contained links to training courses for anyone to access.

The provider focussed on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research. As the service supported some people in rural areas, contingency plans were in place to promote the smooth running of the service. In the event of adverse weather, power and internet outages, people’s care records were backed up on a computer system, paper copies of medicine administration records were available in people’s home and volunteers with 4 wheel drive cars had been sourced to drive staff to people’s homes. The provider had a focus of environmental sustainability and shared their carbon management achievement. Quality meetings with the nominated individual, registered manager and HR manager were held to discuss an overview of the service as a whole. They developed service improvement plans from audit findings, people’s feedback and incidents/near misses, there was clear records of who was responsible for areas of improvement and the date for this to be achieved. Spot checks were conducted to ensure the accurate recording and administration of medicines and completion of care records. A staff member commented on the spot checks and said, “They do spot checks, I have to be ready for them. I always welcome them and they do tell you after the spot check if anything is needed. They also ask scenario based questions.” The registered manager had identified some daily care notes required more detail and had discussed this with staff. Staff had acted on their feedback and the notes we reviewed were informative.