Updated 28 May 2025
The service is a domiciliary care agency (DCA) providing support to people in their own homes. At the time of the assessment there were 80 people using the service, but only 50 people received the regulated activity personal care. We undertook this assessment as it had an aged rating.
The registered manager promoted a learning culture and encouraged people to give their views to further develop the service. The registered manager was open to suggestions and addressed any concerns in a timely manner.
The registered manager had a clear vision of ensuring people received a personalised service, which was adopted throughout the staff team. They ensured people were supported by a small, consistent staff team, who knew them well. This had enabled positive relationships to be built between people, their relatives and staff.
People were treated with kindness and compassion, and their rights were promoted. Staff had a good understanding of consent and promoted decision making. They enabled people to live independent and healthier lives, with support from different health and social care professionals as required.
Staff received regular training and were aware of their responsibilities to keep people safe. There were staff meetings and staff received regular informal and formal support. Staff were complimentary about the registered manager, and an on-call service enabled advice to be sought at any time. There were regular checks of staff’s performance to ensure a good standard of care was being delivered.
Safe infection prevention and control practices were being followed, and people were supported to ensure their environment was safe. There were systems to ensure the safe administration of medicines although written guidance was not available for ‘as required’ medicines. This did not ensure the medicines were consistently given for maximum effectiveness.
Risks people faced were identified in care records but not assessed or fully mitigated. This did not promote people’s safety but was addressed once brought to the registered manager’s attention. There were various quality auditing systems including checks of care planning, medicine administration and staff training. However, the systems were not fully effective as not all shortfalls found at this inspection had been identified.