Archived: Alzheimer's Society - Black Country

The service is registered to provide personal care and support to people in their own homes. The service provides support to younger and older people and people living with a dementia type illness. At the time of the inspection the service was providing support and personal care to 36 people in their own homes.

At our last inspection on 22 February 2014, the service was meeting all of the regulations that we assessed.

A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

People were supported by care staff who had received training in how to recognise possible signs of abuse and how to report any concerns. Staff were aware of their responsibilities in this area and what actions they should take to keep people safe from harm. Staff were aware of the risks to people on a daily basis and how to manage those risks. For those people who were supported to take their medication, systems were in place to ensure this was done safely.

People were supported by care staff who received regular training to ensure they had the skills to meet the needs of the people they supported. Additional information and support was available and care staff had the opportunity to attend training in specialist areas in order to develop their skills and knowledge.

Staff were recruited safely and appropriately and received an induction and opportunities to shadow colleagues prior to commencing in post.

Staff understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act [MCA] and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards [DoLS], and what it meant for the people they supported. People were able to give their consent before they were supported.

Staff were aware of people’s nutrition and health care needs and supported people appropriately.

People were supported by care staff who were kind and caring and maintained their privacy and dignity whilst providing care.

People were involved in the development of their care plans to ensure that care staff knew how to support them the way they wanted to be supported.

People’s care needs were regularly reviewed and care staff kept up to date with any changes in their care or support.

There was a system in place for investigating and recording complaints and people were confident that if they did have any concerns, that they would be dealt with appropriately. The management and staff group were described as supportive and people considered the service to be well led.

People were happy to recommend the service to others, based on their own positive experiences. Responses received from completed questionnaires, demonstrated that people were happy with the service they received.

Staff felt listened to and well supported and able to contribute to the running of the service.

A number of audits were in place to assess the quality of the service provided. Efforts were regularly made to obtain feedback from people who used the service, in order to improve the quality of the service to people.

People who used the service were not able to speak with us by telephone due to their complex needs related to their dementia. However, we spoke with the relatives of six people who received support from the service who told us about their experiences of the service.

People were involved in their care as much as possible and were encouraged to do things for themselves. One relative said, “The girls always encourage my relative to speak out and make their own choices such as what they want to eat or drink and where they would like to go if they are going out. They treat them with a great deal of respect and always listen to them.” People comments were overwhelmingly positive such as, “The girls are really good with my relative and always make time for me" and “Our carer is excellent company for my relative. They cannot speak and communicate through facial expressions. When I tell them she is coming their face lights up so we know they really enjoys her time with them.”

Staff knew what people's support needs were and when to visit. Care plans were personalised, stated what peoples support needs were and detailed people’s individual choices and interests. Risk assessments were up to date to ensure that people’s health and wellbeing was protected.

Staff knew how to protect the people they supported so that they were safeguarded from the risk of harm.

Staff were supported, supervised and trained to provide safe and effective care. One person said, “The girls are very good, they know what they are doing. They understand my relative and how their dementia affects them.”

Effective systems were in place for assessing and monitoring the quality of the service so that people benefited from a well- managed service.