Quest Recovery Services Limited

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. The last rating for this key question was good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 86 (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 developed a vision for the service based on providing good quality person-centred care. People using the service, staff and other stakeholders felt that visions and values were upheld.

People using the service, their relatives and staff told us they would all recommend the agency as a service to care for a friend or loved one. People told us they were able to speak with managers and office staff whenever they needed, that care workers were kind and treated them as individuals and that the agency was responsive when they wanted or needed changes. Comments from people and their relatives included, “They are immensely contactable, they are consistent, flexible, friendly and caring” and “It puts my mind at rest to know that the agency is looking after [person].”

Staff felt well supported and valued. Their comments included, “It is great working with this team and the agency”, “I feel I work in a team that understand the challenges that come with the service and are willing to navigate through these”, “I would recommend the agency to care for a family member because there is a lot of empathy and care” and “The positive impact we make on people’s lives is incredibly rewarding to help someone and make them happy.”

The registered manager told us they developed staff skills by providing mentorship and coaching. They told us the care staff were “absolutely fantastic.” They explained their vision for the future included developing the services they provided to people with mental health needs. The registered manager told us they had recognised loneliness affected a large proportion of people they cared for. They were looking at ways to combat this with events and were planning to organise an afternoon tea as the first event.

The provider carried out their own quality monitoring including surveys, visits to people’s homes and telephone calls. People and their relatives were happy with the way the provider lived up to their vision for the service. The provider demonstrated a commitment to continuous improvement of the service and delivery of person-centred care.

The service was led by capable and inclusive leaders. The registered manager was an experienced mental health worker, a qualified trainer and had professional and personal experience supporting people in care services.

People using the service, relatives, staff and external professionals told us they thought the service was well-led and the registered manager was supportive and kind. The registered manager knew everyone who used the service and had been directly involved in providing care and support, as well as advocating for them with external services.

Comments from staff included, “The manager is very supportive”, “[Registered manager] does additional things to help us understand best practice. [They] work from the heart”, “My manager is always understanding and helps when I need”, “The manager is approachable and shows concern.”

The provider had sourced an external consultancy company who supported them to develop records and systems based on best practice guidance.

The provider had systems to enable staff to speak up and share feedback. Staff were familiar with these and told us they felt confident their concerns would be listened to and acted on.

The provider supported staff with their diverse and individual needs. They employed staff from different cultures and religions and provided time off work and extra support for staff who needed to fast, and those celebrating festivals. Comments from staff included, “The agency meets my individual needs and accommodates my requests for preferred hours. They provide training and listen to my feedback”, “We are given consideration for our prayer time” and “During [religious festival] we were given time off to celebrate.” The provider promoted staff wellbeing and also supported staff to work flexibly around childcare needs and when returning to work following maternity leave.

The provider had developed a policy and guidance to support staff going through the menopause. There were fact sheets and information for managers and employees on how to support these staff and enable them to feel safe at work.

There were policies and procedures around supporting staff with their equality and diversity needs. A member of the office staff was an equality and diversity champion whose role included giving talks and presentations to other staff about how to treat people fairly and equitably.

The provider had undertaken an analysis of the service's equality, diversity and inclusion. This was designed to evaluate representation of different groups of staff and whether the procedures ensured good representation, equitable services and fair treatment. The report had identified whilst there was good support for people from different cultures and religions, no staff had declared a disability. The provider had therefore recommended they look at ways to create a safe environment to attract disabled staff and help those with a disability feel able to discuss this and their needs without fear of discrimination. The provider was also looking at ways to track diversity representation within promotions and the leadership team.

The provider had effective systems and processes for monitoring the quality of care and making improvements. They carried out regular audits of different records and care provisions. The provider made improvements when audits identified something was wrong.

The management team regularly engaged with people using the service, relatives and staff to ask for their feedback and experiences. They also carried out spot checks on staff to observe them providing care. Staff had regular supervision meetings to discuss their roles and there were team meetings to discuss lessons learnt and when improvements were needed.

The service worked in partnership with external professionals and local community groups. Staff told us they worked with healthcare professionals and followed their advice to ensure people received good quality care.

The provider had links with local charities and colleges. The registered manager had given presentations and shared guidance with others. They took part in meetings with other local care managers and the local authority to discuss good practice and updates in legislation.

The agency promoted a learning culture. Staff had opportunities to take part in discussions about best practice and lessons learnt. There were regular training events, team meetings, and the registered manager provided coaching and mentorship to staff who wanted to develop their careers. A member of staff told us, “There is constant learning and improvement [within the agency].”

The registered manager developed themed case studies to discuss in team meetings to reflect on incidents, accidents and adverse events. They used partnership working and their own research to find out about things that had gone wrong in other services to use these examples to help staff learn.