Thyme Care provides personal care to people who live in their own homes in the Penzance, St Ives and Hayle areas of Cornwall. At the time of our inspection the team of 23 care staff was providing support to approximately 73 predominantly elderly people. The service is required to have a registered manager and at the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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.
People told us they felt safe and were well cared for by Thyme Care. Their comments included; ““I do feel safe,” and “They (care staff) are so caring and kind, they look after me very well.” People’s relatives echoed this and said, “I am reassured that my father is receiving care from carers who really do care. If they thought dad wasn’t safe they would let me know.” Another commented, “My dad trusts (carer staff’s name) in particular. This gives me reassurance as I know he is being cared for by staff who care.”
People told us they had “never” experienced a missed care visit. The management team told us “Missed visits are not an option. People in the community are vulnerable and we must and do visit when we say we will.” The service had robust and effective procedures in place to ensure that all planned care visits were provided.
People told us that their visits were on time but there were ‘rare occasions’ when care staff could be late for their planned visits. However people, and relatives, did not have a concern regarding this as they understood that care staff lateness were due to needing to provide extra support to a person in an emergency or travel issues, especially in holiday seasons. People told us that Thyme Care headquarters would “usually” phone them if a care worker was going to be late which gave them reassurance that their visit would still continue. We found staff consistently provided the care visits of the correct visit length. People told us their staff never rushed them and staff stayed for the correct duration of their visit.
The registered manager was confident about the action to take if they had any safeguarding concerns and had liaised with the safeguarding teams as appropriate. Risk assessments clearly identified any risk and gave staff guidance on how to minimise the risk. They were designed to keep people and staff safe while allowing people to develop and maintain their independence.
People said staff were well trained and understood how to meet their specific care needs. Training records showed staff had been provided with all the necessary training which had been refreshed regularly. Staff told us they had ‘lots of training” and found the training to be beneficial to their role.
The service’s systems for the induction of new members of staff were effective and fully complied with the requirements of the Care Certificate. Training was provided in accordance with the 15 fundamental standards. The service had commissioned a training academy to provide the induction and further training courses to their staff team. Staff said they were encouraged to attend training to develop their skills, and their career.
Staff received regular supervisions and annual performance appraisals. In addition ‘spot checks’ by managers were used regularly to confirm each member of staff was providing appropriate standards of care and support.
People were supported by stable and consistent staff teams who knew people well and had received training specific to their needs. People told us they were introduced to new staff before they supported them in their home. People confirmed they had consistent carers to support them and had built up positive relationships with staff.
Thyme care identified that some people only saw their care staff as they had no family or friends that lived nearby. Thyme care recognised the social isolation that some people felt. Thyme care responded by introducing a coffee morning where care staff offered to collect people and bring them to the office for a coffee and lunch. The registered manager said “This is why we do this job, we are passionate about what we do.” People told us they really enjoyed this social gathering and wanted to attend future coffee mornings.
People’s care plans were detailed, personalised and provided staff with sufficient information to enable them to meet people’s care needs. The care plans included objectives for the planned care that had been agreed between the service and the individual. All of the care plans we reviewed were up to date and accurately reflected each person’s individual needs and wishes. The service’s risk assessment procedures were designed to enable people to take risks while providing appropriate protection.
The service’s visit schedules were well organised and at the time of our inspection there were a sufficient number of staff available to provide people’s care visits in accordance with their preferences.
Thyme Care was a family business whose directors provided effective leadership and support to the staff team. Staff told us their managers were; “understanding”, “approachable”, and “quite motivating”. While people told us the service was “well managed”.