We carried out this inspection to follow up concerns that had been raised about this service and to review improvements the provider had made following the previous inspection on 29 February 2012. In February, we identified areas requiring improvement, and we received an action plan from the service in April 2012. We inspected the Winchester branch on 13 September 2012. The manager was not available when we visited, but we were able to speak with the operations support manager who had been overseeing the management of the branch during the previous month.
To find out about people's experience of care, we telephoned six people who received a service from this agency. Five were willing to talk to us about their care. We also spoke with seven members of staff, both by telephone and in person.
All of the five people we spoke with told us that the care workers treated them in a respectful way and helped them to do as much as they could for themselves in a way they wanted to do it. One person, however, told us they had received care from a male care worker, when they had specifically requested a female. We also found that people were not always advised if their care worker was running late, or was going to arrive early.
Everyone said the care workers were good at looking after their care needs. One person said, 'I am so pleased with the service, they (the care workers) are so good.' Another person commented, 'The office staff are extremely helpful and friendly.' Two people related examples of when care workers had identified the need for medical assistance and had secured appropriate assistance. Relatives also said they were kept informed of any changes in people's health or needs. One person, who needed to receive care at specific times of the day, said they received a prompt and reliable service. They said the service understood that their care needs were 'time critical' and they felt their care was prioritised accordingly.
People also said, however, that the service had been less reliable recently. One person said, 'The service has been brilliant up to now.' This was usually worse at weekends, and had been a particular issue in recent months. They said this caused distress and anxiety as well as inconvenience. In addition, contact with the out of hours service (a telephone helpline operating outside office hours) was said to be worse at weekends. Most people said that staff were rushed. One person commented, 'In the holidays they seemed to run out of staff, and weekends were worse.'
We also found that records were incomplete and did not provide care workers with clear guidance on how to deliver care. These issues had not been identified promptly and addressed, since the provider's quality monitoring system was not effective.