Archived: West Park Care Harrogate

West Park Care Harrogate is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service specialises in supporting younger adults and older people who may be living with a physical disability, mental health needs, a sensory impairment or dementia.

Not everyone who used the service received support with personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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. At the time of our inspection eight people were receiving support with personal care.

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

People received safe care and support which met their needs. Staff had been recruited safely and there were systems in place to make sure people received support at the times they needed.

Staff had been trained to identify and respond to safeguarding concerns. Staff understood people’s needs and detailed risk assessments were in place to support them to provide safe care. Medicines were managed and administered safely.

When an accident or incident had occurred, staff responded appropriately and the manager was very thorough in making sure lessons were learnt and action taken to try and stop a similar thing happening again.

Staff completed a range of training and regular supervisions and spot checks helped make sure they provided effective care. New staff had an induction and shadowed other staff to develop their confidence and learn how to meet people’s individual needs.

Management worked very closely with other professionals to make sure people’s needs were met. They were quick to respond to changes in people’s needs and seek advice, guidance and support.

The manager had a very good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the importance of making sure people’s rights were protected. 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.

Staff were kind and caring. They respected people’s privacy, maintained their dignity and promoted people’s independence. The provider employed a small team, which helped people get to know staff and develop caring relationships with them.

Staff understood people’s communication needs and the requirement to provide accessible information to help people understand choices and make decisions.

People’s care was planned and delivered in a person-centred way. People, their relatives and professionals were all involved in assessments and reviews. The provider did not organise visits which were less than 30 minutes to make sure staff had time to spend with people and provide person-centred care.

We made a recommendation about developing and implementing an end of life care policy and procedure.

People felt able to speak with staff or management if they wanted to complain about the service. The manager was very responsive to feedback.

There was a person-centred culture within the service. Good organisation and thorough audits helped management monitor the quality and safety of the service. Management worked proactively to continually improve the service provided to people.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 28 December 2018 and this was the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on when the service was registered.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.