28 May 2014
During a routine inspection
Below is a summary of what we found. If you want to see the evidence supporting our summary please read our full report.
Is the service safe?
We inspected this service previously on 06 November 2013 and identified improvements were required in several different areas. These included the safe care and welfare of people, how the service protected people against misuse of medicines, how the service supported its workers and how the service monitored and assessed the quality of its service. We found the registered manager had made changes following our previous inspection and improvements had been made in all these areas.
We saw people's care records accurately reflected their care needs. We saw people had risk assessments in place that made sure risks to their health were managed. We found people's care records had been recently reviewed. We also found medication assessments had been reviewed when required.
Is the service effective?
People told us the care they received met their individual needs. They told us they had been involved in planning the care they received and when they required their care calls. People told us they could cancel or change their calls times to suit them, sometimes at short notice. One relative said: 'We have changed our call times and they were very good about it'.
Staff we spoke with had a clear understanding of the needs of the people they supported and what they told us was reflected in people's care plans.
We spoke with staff and found they were supported by the registered manager and felt able to raise any issues they had. We found staff received the relevant training and there was a system in place that made sure refresher training was completed when required.
The registered manager had an induction system in place which made sure new staff were supported to provide care to an appropriate standard and were suitably trained.
We found staff had supervision meetings and also had an annual appraisal that covered their performance and any training they required.
Is the service caring?
All the people we spoke with who used the agency were positive about the staff who supported them. For example people told us: 'The staff are very good, nothing is too much trouble' and, 'The staff are great, very kind and friendly'.
Staff we spoke with were positive about their role. Staff knew people's individual needs and provided care in line with people's individual requirements. People we spoke with confirmed this.
Is the service responsive?
We found people were asked for their views of the care they received. We found any improvements had been acted on. We saw the registered manager had a system in place to check people were satisfied with the service they received. The results we saw from the recent surveys showed people were pleased with the service they received.
People told us they felt comfortable to raise any issues they had about the service. All the people we spoke with had not felt the need to make a complaint.
People told us the service was flexible and they could contact the office at short notice and request changes to their care package.
Is the service well led?
We found the service had an effective quality assurance system in place and any identified actions had led to improvements in the service people received. People told us they had been asked for their views of the service at regular intervals.
We found the registered manager had completed an action plan following our previous inspection which identified the improvements required. We found the registered manager had followed their action plan and made the necessary improvements.