Archived: Wirral Branch Office

Updated 15 May 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

We undertook an announced inspection of Wirral Branch which is part of the Alternative Futures Group (AFG) on 11 March to the 19 March 2015. We told the provider two days before that we were going because the manager is often out supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We spent time on the 16 March 2015 making telephone calls to people and their relatives. On the 17 March 2015 we visited the organisation’s head office and talked to the head of services. On the 18 March we visited people in the community. On the 19 March we spent time holding a discussion at the Wirral Branch location where we invited people who used services to come along and talk to us. Wirral Branch AFG currently provides support to 189 people living as tenants in their own homes in the community.

During the five days we spoke with a total of twenty three people using the service, twelve people face to face and eleven on the telephone. We visited three locations where people lived in the community. We also spoke with three relatives. Seven people using services came and spent time talking to us and telling us about the support they receive. There is currently 324 staff working at the Wirral Branch AFG. We talked with twenty one members of staff including support staff, the registered manager, four area managers and five leads of services at head office that were, compliance coordinator, safeguarding lead, human resources service manager, health and safety advisor and the contingency recruitment manager.

The inspection team consisted of an Adult Social Care (ASC) lead inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. We focused on talking with the people who used the service and their relatives and speaking with staff and looking at staff records, care plans and other records related to the running of the service.

Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service including notifications of incidents that the provider had sent to us. We also contacted local commissioners of the service who were positive about the care and support provided by Wirral Branch (AFG).

We requested information from the provider after the inspection. The information sent by the registered manager was quality assurance reviews, staff qualifications, the finance policy and the up to date complaint report.

Updated 15 May 2015

We undertook an announced inspection of Wirral Branch which is part of the Alternative Futures Group (AFG) on 11 March to the 19 March 2015. We told the provider two days before that we were going because the manager is often out supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We spent time on the 16 March 2015 making telephone calls to people and their relatives. On the 17 March 2015 we visited the organisation’s head office and talked to the head of services. On the 18 March we visited people in the community. On the 19 March we spent time holding a discussion at the Wirral Branch location where we invited people who used services to come along and talk to us. Wirral Branch AFG currently provides support to 189 people living as tenants in their own homes in the community.

During the five days we spoke with a total of twenty three people using the service, twelve people face to face and eleven on the telephone. We visited three locations where people lived in the community. We also spoke with three relatives. Seven people using services came and spent time talking to us and telling us about the support they receive. There is currently 324 staff working at the Wirral Branch AFG. We talked with twenty one members of staff including support staff, the registered manager, four area managers and five leads of services at head office that were, compliance coordinator, safeguarding lead, human resources service manager, health and safety advisor and the contingency recruitment manager. The manager has been in place since 1993 and became the registered manager in April 2014, when the Wirral Branch AFG commenced providing a service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

All twenty three people using the service told us they felt safe. Staff were knowledgeable in recognising signs of potential abuse and followed the required reporting procedures. The twenty one staff we spoke with were able to tell us how they ensured that people were protected from abuse. All staff had received training about safeguarding and this was updated every two years. There were enough qualified and experienced staff to meet people’s needs.

Staff received regular training and were knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities. They had the skills, knowledge and experience to provide the required support and care. There was an ongoing recruitment drive at the service where safe systems of recruitment were being followed.

The twenty one staff we spoke with knew the people they were providing support and care to. Care plans were in place detailing how people wished to be supported and people and their families were involved in making decisions about their care. People told us they were mainly happy with their support workers carers and that they followed the care plan.

People were supported and encouraged to eat and drink. Staff supported people to meet their healthcare appointments and liaised with their GP and other healthcare professionals as required to meet people’s needs.

Care plans had been developed to inform staff what they should be doing to meet people’s needs effectively. All of the staff we spoke with knew the people very well and in discussions were able to tell us what support they provided. Staff also liaised with other healthcare professionals to obtain specialist advice to ensure people received the healthcare and support they needed.

There were systems in place to assess the quality of the service provided with action plans implemented when issues were raised.

The expert by experience commented.

Everyone I spoke to felt safe and no one had any complaints about the staff support. Most people made good comments about the staff and thought they were competent. People spoken with were happy about being treated with dignity and respect.