Archived: Waymarks Limited

Waymarks Limited provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides 24 hour support to people who have complex histories which can include risky behaviours as defined in transforming care. Waymarks provides individualised services to people with learning disabilities and/or autism, which encourage learning and enhance their community integration and participation. People are supported by a person who acts as a role model to build empathy, social functioning and reduce behavioural challenges.

At the time of our inspection there were four people using the service and receiving personal care. They lived in separate accommodation in supported living facilities. The provider supports additional people in the community but they do not receive personal care. This inspection and report only relates to the four people receiving the regulated activity of personal care. Those receiving support but not receiving personal care are outside the regulatory remit of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The service did not have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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. However, the manager who was present throughout the inspection had applied to become the registered manager of the service.

Staff training records indicated which training was considered mandatory by the provider. Not all staff had received their mandatory training. The provider was monitoring and addressing the gaps in the training with staff on the regular basis. Staff said they felt supported to do their job and could ask for help when needed.

Staff had a good understanding of how to keep people safe and their responsibilities for reporting accidents, incidents or concerns. Staff had the knowledge and confidence to identify safeguarding concerns and acted on these to keep people safe.

The manager assessed and monitored the quality of care consistently with the help of staff and other members of company management. We found some incomplete records. However, this was being addressed and work was in progress.

There were safe medicines administration systems in place and people received their medicines when required. People's health and wellbeing was monitored and appropriate action was taken when required.

People were supported by sufficient staff to meet their individual needs. Safe recruitment practices were followed before new staff were employed to work with people. Checks were made to ensure staff were of good character and suitable for their role.

People were treated with respect and their privacy and dignity were promoted. People said their care and support workers were good and supported them in the way they wanted them to. Staff were responsive to the needs of the people they supported and enabled them to improve and maintain their independence with personal care. There were some activities arranged for each person. Risks to people’s personal safety were assessed and plans were in place to minimise those risks.

People received support that was individualised to their specific needs. Their needs were monitored and support plans were kept under review and amended as changes occurred. Staff were aware of their responsibilities to ensure people's rights to make their own decisions, where possible, were protected and promoted.

Quality assurance systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service being delivered and the running of the service. A number of improvements were ongoing to ensure people received the best support. Staff felt they worked well together and felt management worked with them as a team which benefitted people.

We found that people received safe and appropriate care because their needs were thoroughly assessed before any support was provided. Care plans were person centred and reviewed regularly, which ensured that any changes in people's needs were met. People told us that the staff knew them and understood how to support them. One person said, "They know what makes me tick and how to get the best out of me.' Another person said, "My team leader is great. We sit down everyday and discuss what I want to do and how to do it."

People told us that they felt safe and trusted their individual support team. Staff we spoke with knew about different types of abuse and the appropriate action to take if they had any concerns.

There was an effective recruitment process which completed all relevant security checks and references before staff were employed. We noted that staff had received a comprehensive induction and specific training tailored to meet the individual needs of the people they were supporting.

The provider had protected people against the risks of unsafe or inappropriate care by operating systems to regularly assess and monitor the quality of the service provided.