22 August 2012
During a themed inspection looking at Domiciliary Care Services
We carried out 19 telephone interviews and three home visits to people who use the service and to their main carers (a relative or friend) to gain views about the service. We visited the office to look at records and talk to the person in charge. We also talked to senior staff and two care workers.
At the time of the inspection although the agency had been delivering care in the area, new premises and a new management team had only been fully operational in Workington for three weeks. The manager told us they had experienced some "teething problems". These had been mostly in recruiting enough staff to meet demand, and in setting up new systems to run the agency.
Due to these issues we had been informed by the county council contracts team that a temporary suspension had been imposed on new referrals with 360 Healthcare Ltd in the West and North of the county. The contracts team was agreeing an action plan and targets were being monitored. We were being kept informed of the progress.
The majority of people we spoke with, however, told us that the care they received from the agency was mostly good. A number of people had credited the Workington area manager for this, saying of the area manager, "She works really hard to make sure things were running as smoothly as possible."
People we spoke with felt that they were treated with dignity and respect by the care workers. One person using the service said, 'I give them respect, and they give me respect, it is a two way thing', another said, 'They are very nice, they are civil with me'. And another said, 'They cannot do enough for me, they are like a member of the family'.
The majority felt they had been involved with decisions about their care. It was clear from speaking to a number of people, that they were aware they can make decisions the about timing of their visits. A number of people told us they had asked that the care workers came in at different times, and this had been arranged.
While most people told us they were happy with the care they received from their care workers, quite a number of people commented on the high turnover of staff. One person said, 'They (the care workers) are always changing, I have had 21 different carers since March'.
A small number of people told us that a couple of months ago they had experienced care workers turning up late but again said this had recently improved. These people also told us that the office staff were now much better at letting them know if care workers were running late, or about any changes.