Royal Mencap Society - Rotherham and Sheffield Domiciliary Care Agency

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.

At our last assessment we rated this key question 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 75 (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 a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. Staff appeared to have a strong shared ethos of supporting individuals within the community. Staff spoke highly of their colleagues and told us that they felt communication with their leaders was positive, which enabled trust and transparency within the service.

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. Leaders were experienced and had often started out providing the care, so had hands on experience about people’s care and support. People, relatives and staff told us managers were responsive and open to change.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. The operational manager told us, “We carry out spot checks, staff have undergone training on positive cultures, questionnaires have been sent to staff to gather their feedback on staff dynamics, which were positive.” There was a comprehensive whistleblowing policy in place and staff spoken to told us they knew how to access this and raise any whistleblowing concerns.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. The service promoted staff individuality. The provider had an equality and diversity policy in place which recognised staff’s protected characteristics and ensured appropriate measures were in place to support these. Staff completed equality and diversity training as a mandatory.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. There were effective systems for monitoring and improving the quality of care and support. The staff and managers were involved in ensuring checks were completed at service level and action was taken when problems were identified. Operations managers had positive relationships with the services and frequently visited to carry out checks, implement action plans and review in service audits to ensure these were compliant. The service had an internal audit and compliance team, who could support service managers in ensuring good oversight and governance was taking place.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. Although a small home care service, the staff encouraged people to be involved within the community. One staff member told us, “We support them with travel and accompany to day centres, parties, local activities. I personally have reached out to the central library and theatre as a service user has a passion for it. I have explored pottery and go karting with a service user to try and find new activities for them to try to enrich their experiences, we encourage day trips/holidays to an interest of theirs. we access a lot in and around Sheffield and are always listening to what they say so we can try to expand on their experiences. We also encourage getting involved in projects in their area, like gardening, tree planting and activities going on in their local community centre."

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research. The organisation had a range of policies and procedures which reflected good practice. There were regular team meetings for staff at the service and managers to discuss improvements and look at ways to develop the service.