The Care Worker Agency

The Care Worker Agency is a domiciliary care agency providing care to people living in their own homes, so they can live as independently as possible. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 42 people with personal care. Some of the people supported had a learning disability or autism.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People’s risk assessments were completed in accordance with their assessed needs. Staff were happy with their rostered hours, and people told us staff mostly came on time. If staff were late, they would receive communication from the office. People received their required medications on time by staff who were trained to do this.

Quality assurance procedures were in place and had highlighted where improvement was needed. Staff told us they felt they were able to speak up to the registered manager and the provider whenever they needed to. Team meetings took place, and people were routinely asked for written and verbal feedback about their experience of The Care Worker Agency.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (report published 3 August 2018).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to risk management and closed cultures. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has remained good.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Care Worker Agency on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults. It currently provides a service to 17 older adults in the Southport area.

Not everyone using this service receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

The service had a registered manager. 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's needs were assessed and recorded by suitably qualified and experienced staff. Care and support were delivered in line with current legislation and best practice. Risk assessments and support plans had been completed for everyone who was receiving care to help ensure people's needs were met and to protect people from the risk of harm.

People's preferences had been recorded in respect of personal care routines, getting up and going to bed and likes and dislikes for food and drinks. Allergies and other medical information was also recorded.

Staff had been appropriately checked when they were recruited to ensure they were suitable to work with vulnerable adults. The service ensured that staff were trained to a high standard in appropriate subjects. Staff understood how to recognise abuse and how to report concerns or allegations.

The records we saw indicated that medicines were administered correctly and were subject to regular audit.

There were appropriate numbers of staff employed to meet the needs of people who received a service and to ensure they received the support at a time when they needed it. Everyone said the visits by the care staff were on time and staff always stayed for the allocated time.

Policies and procedures provided guidance to staff regarding expectations and performance. These included policies regarding people's diversity. Staff were clear about the need to support people's rights and needs regarding equality and diversity.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. We saw clear evidence of staff working effectively to deliver positive outcomes for people. People we reviewed were receiving effective care and gave positive feedback regarding staff support.

People told us that staff treated them with kindness and respect. Care was provided in accordance with people's needs.

People using the service and staff were asked to share their views. This was achieved through contact by the registered manager and deputy manager during regular home visits. These provided very positive responses regarding people's care.

We checked the records in relation to concerns and complaints. The complaints process was understood by the people that we spoke with. The service had received no complaints.

People spoke positively about the management of the service and the approachability of the registered manager.