Prime Care Support Limited

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

At our last inspection we identified breaches in relation to good governance. At this assessment improvements had been made and the service is no longer in breach of regulations. The registered manager and provider were passionate about the service and had made and sustained a number of improvements since our last assessment. Audits were still not completely effective in finding and making improvements in all areas of the service. However, the registered manager and provider were open and honest about where improvements could still be made and sent us evidence of where they had already started to implement these improvements based on our feedback.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff enjoyed their jobs and spoke positively about the culture of the service. They told us the management team encouraged them to put people first and at the centre of their job roles. Staff spoke about how they prioritised people’s preferences and their support over other factors such as the timing of care visits and this was encouraged by the management team. The registered manager and provider had a clear direction for the service and wanted what was best for people using the service. They were proud of the support they gave to people and the outcomes people received as a result of this. They had clear values in place in relation to prioritising people’s positive experiences when using the service and were keen to discuss the improvements they had made at the service since our last assessment.

Processes were in place to share the direction and culture of the service with the staff team to help ensure this was understood. This had resulted in people having mostly positive experiences using the service. One person said, ‘‘I think carers are fantastic. I am in the best place I have been for a long time thanks to them.’’ A relative told us, ‘‘[Staff] are always so happy and cheerful, and you can tell they really enjoy coming to work.’’

Staff were positive about the support the registered manager, provider and management team gave to them. They told us as well as formal supervisions and discussions, they were able to approach them at any time for an informal chat if they needed support. Staff told us the management team supported them as best as possible with any requests or feedback they had about their jobs. The registered manager and management team understood the importance of being compassionate and feedback from the staff team showed how well they supported the staff team.

The registered manager was skilled in their job role and understood every aspect of it. They had made efforts to involve themselves in the day to day running of the service to understand how staff were feeling working at the service. They also made themselves available for discussions with people if they needed support. They also told us the provider supported them well in their job role. One person said, ‘‘[Registered manager] seem lovely and really knows their stuff. I know they would help me with anything I need.’’ A relative told us, ‘‘Things have been going really well since [registered manager] has been in post. I think they know what’s best for [family member].’’

Staff told us they were confident to speak up if they had any concerns. They gave us examples of when they had spoken with the management team and positive changes had happened at the service as a result. The registered manager told us they were comfortable speaking up with the provider. The registered manager told us the processes they had to support people and relatives to speak up. They ensured any concerns or complaints were responded to in a timely manner and were recorded to help improve the service.

Processes were in place to support people to speak up. The provider had a complaints procedure which was available in different formats. However, we received mixed feedback about people’s experiences speaking up and raising concerns. One person said, ‘‘It can take a long time to hear back if you raise concerns.’’ A relative said, ‘‘It can get really frustrating when you raise things and do not hear back. It has put me off raising concerns.’’ The registered manager listened to our feedback about this and told us they would look in to where this had happened and address this. We also received some positive feedback about speaking up from people and relatives. One person said, ‘‘I have never had any serious concerns but when I have raised things they get sorted quickly.’’ A relative told us, ‘‘[Management team] are very responsive. I have no doubt they would deal with any concerns we have.’’

Staff felt they were treated with equality and spoke positively about their experiences working at the service. They felt well supported by the management team and the provider. Staff were supported to work flexibly if they needed to do so and told us this was fully supported by the provider.

Processes were in place to support staff equality. The management team supported staff working flexibly. The providers recruitment process was fair and equitable.

Staff told us they felt the service was well managed. The registered manager spoke with us about the numerous ways they governed and monitored the quality of the service. We fed back to them about the areas of the assessment where there had been shortfalls such as in relation to staff recording of people’s support in daily records, care plans not always being detailed in all areas and people not always feeling like they had a consistent staff team or staff arriving too late or too early. The registered manager accepted that thought a lot of work had happened at the service to drive improvements, they understood there was still work to be done and accepted our feedback. They responded to our feedback and gave us assurances they would work on these improvements.

The registered manager and provider completed audits to monitor the quality of the service in every area of service provision such as care visit times, care plans, staff training, and the quality-of-care people received. However, these audits were not always effective in identifying where improvements may be able to be made and did not pick up on some of the areas for improvements we found during this assessment. For example, staff not always recording people’s support in their daily records, care plans not always being fully detailed, and people and relatives not always feeling or being asked to be involved in their care or support. The registered manager and provider accepted there were improvements that could be made and told us they would act on our feedback. They sent us evidence and assurances this work had started. The registered manager also told us they would update their service improvement plans based on feedback from this assessment to continue driving improvements at the service.

People told us staff worked well with other professionals to help support them. One relative told us, ‘‘Any advice given by [health professional] is followed explicitly and as a result [family member] is doing much better.’’ People who had support from staff to access the community were supported to access facilities where they could follow their interests. For example, one person was supported to exercise regularly in the community and this was very important to this person.

Staff told us how they worked with other professionals to support good outcomes for people. The registered manager had a good working relationship with partners such as the local authority and local health services.

Professionals told us they were confident the management and staff team worked well with them and supported people in line with their advice and recommendations.

Processes were in place to support good working relationships with partners. The registered manager had a good working relationship with partners such as the local authority and shared updates with them regularly. They also attended meetings with their peers from other services to discuss best practice. As discussed in other quality statements processes were in place to help ensure professional's advice was followed by the staff team.

Staff told us they were supported to learn lessons in supervisions and team meetings. The registered manager and provider were keen to improve the service. They had service improvement plans in place to support this and were responsive to our feedback during the assessment. They were open and honest with us during the assessment and showed us evidence of where they had started to make improvements based on our feedback.

Processes were in place to support learning at the service. However, as discussed in previous quality statements audits were sometimes not effective in identifying where improvements could be made. As a result of this improvements were more difficult to identify and put in place. The registered manager was open and honest about where improvements could be made and shared what they would be doing to improve the service based on feedback from this assessment. The registered manager and provider had made a lot of improvements at the service since our last assessment. People were now receiving a good service and having positive experiences, and this reflected the improvements made by the management and staff team.