Archived: Ashley Care LLP

People told us that when they had their regular care worker that their needs were met as expected. However people told us that the service provided at weekends or when their regular care worker was unavailable due to planned holiday or sickness was variable. People said that did not always receive the level of care and support that they expected or required.

People told us that they receive surveys or questionnaire to complete or had meetings with Ashley Care to discuss the care they received. Some people felt that they were listened to, but others felt it was a waste of time, and nothing changed.

People told us that they were generally happy with the way their complaints were received and handled. One person told us ''Staff are usually very helpful if I have any complaints or concerns and they put things right very quickly''.

We spoke with five people who use the service. One person commented that 'they were very impressed overall with the service'. They told us 'The agency is really good; even in the recent bad weather they were never late'. Another person told us 'When we get our regular carer everything is fine. However on occasions my morning caller comes at lunchtime and often the office rings to say there is no carer today because of sickness. This happens quite often'. One person who uses the service said 'Mostly carers turn up on time. Overall it is ok'.

One relative told us 'The regular carer is consistent and caring, but others are just in and out and, on occasions, staff have not turned up and nobody contacted us to let us know'. Of the five people we spoke with, two said that staff read the care plan but also commented 'Some staff don't seem to have a clue what they are doing at times'. Three of the five people using the service told us that staff usually do everything according to the care plan

We spoke with four members of staff. Two said that they were not always given enough information about the person they were to support. Both said that they were regularly asked to pick up extra work and said that they rarely were given enough information about these people. One member of staff told us 'We are always pushed to take on extra work but we do not have any details about the care needed so I end up going in blind, so to speak'.

Each of the five people using the service with whom we spoke told us that staff were respectful and treated them well.

Each of the four members of staff we spoke with told us that they had received safeguarding training and that they knew how to recognise signs of abuse and would report these immediately to office staff.

Three staff members with whom we spoke commented that they were usually asked to take on extra visits. They told us that they would fit these into their normal schedule and this often meant that the visits were much later than the person would expect. Two members of staff told us that they were aware of a number of incidents where visits were cancelled by clients because they were too late and of occasions where no visit was carried out due to lack of staff. Three member of staff told us that late and missed calls were a regular occurrence.

Two people with whom we spoke told us that when they have raised concerns or complaints they were assured that someone would look into the issues and 'get back to them'. However, both said that this did not happen and that they had to 'chase' the office staff for a result. People told us that complaints they made were about late or missed calls and lack of communication from office staff. One person said 'Sometimes I don't think they take some of our complaints seriously'.

Each of the five people we spoke with told us that they knew how to make a complaint and had information and telephone numbers to contact the agency if they wished to raise any concerns.