Archived: Tamarisk Care Agency

Updated 22 February 2019

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.

This inspection took place on 8 and 9 January 2019 and was announced as the service is a home care agency and we wanted to be sure staff would be available in the office on the day of our inspection. The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector and an expert by experience who had knowledge and experience of this type of service.

The service was previously inspected in June 2016 when it was found to be fully compliant with the regulations. Since that inspection the service has moved addresses and changed its name from Hayle to Tamarisk Care Agency. Prior to this inspection we reviewed the Provider Information Record (PIR) and previous inspection reports. The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed the information we held about the service and notifications we had received. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law.

During the inspection spoke with six people who used the service, six relatives, five members of care staff and the registered manager. We also inspected a range of records. These included four care plans, three staff files, training records, staff duty rotas, meeting minutes and the service’s policies and procedures.

Updated 22 February 2019

We carried out this announced inspection on the 8 and 9 January 2019. At the last inspection in June 2016, the service was rated Good in all areas. At this inspection we again found the service was Good.

Tamarisk Care Agency is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to predominantly older people living in their own homes in Hayle, West of Cornwall. At the time of our inspection the service was providing support to approximately 35 people. The service generally provides short visits at key times of the day to support people with specific tasks to enable people to continue to live in their own homes. Most people who used the service had privately commissioned this support.

People and their relatives were complementary of the service which they were happy to recommend. Their comments included, "The girls I have are absolutely lovely", "Everybody is really cheerful, they make my day", "I cannot recommend them enough" and "They are the best care agency in Hayle."

We found people were supported by carers who they knew well and got on with. Rotas included appropriate amounts of travel time for staff between consecutive care visits. Daily care records showed the service was reliable with staff normally arriving on time and providing visits of the full duration. People told us, "They are so reliable, you just know they are going to be there”, "They are very punctual, always on time" and “The patience the staff have is brilliant, they never rush my relative." While staff commented, “The rota is worked out really well, it works really smoothly” and “The visits are long enough, if you are over running regularly you mention it to the office and they will extend the visit [on the rota].”

People told us they felt safe while receiving support. Staff had completed safeguarding training and understood their role in ensuring people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. Risks had been assessed as part of the care planning process and staff understood how to protect people from identified risks. Any accidents that occurred were fully investigated by the registered manager to identify any learning and how similar incidents could be prevented.

Staff were sufficiently skilled to meet people’s needs and there were systems in place to update training. All staff initially completed training in a variety of topics considered mandatory by the service and shadowed the deputy manager and senior carers until they felt confident to provide support independently. Staff new to the care sector had been supported to complete the care certificate. This was a nationally recognised induction training designed to ensure new staff have an understanding of current good practice. Staff told us, “The induction was really good. I went out with a mentor until I felt confident to go out on my own”, “The training is pretty good” and “All my training is up to date.”

The service’s recruitment practices were safe. All necessary pre-employment checks had been completed to ensure new staff were suitable for employment in the care sector.

Assessments of people’s needs were completed by the deputy manager before the initial care visit to ensure the service was able to meet people needs. Care plans were developed from information provided by people and their relatives during the assessments process. These documents were sufficiently detailed and provided staff with the guidance they needed to know to meet people’s needs. Staff told us, “The care plans are set out really well and we know what to do” and “The care plans are very good, very informative. Every little detail is in them.”

The registered manager had a good understanding of Mental Capacity Act 2005(MCA). There were systems in place to support people to make decisions independently and where this was not possible the service had consistently acted in people’s best interests.

The service was led by a registered manager who was based in the service full time. The manager was supported by a deputy manager and an administrator whose roles and responsibilities were well defined. There was an effective on call system in place which enabled people and staff to access management support and guidance outside of office hours. People told us, "The people in the office are very good.”

Staff were well motivated and team meetings had been held regularly. Records showed all staff had received regular supervision and spot checks had been completed by managers to monitor individual staff practices.

The service had appropriate quality assurance systems in place to drive improvements in performance. All daily records and care plans were audited when returned to the office to ensure managers were aware of any incidents and changes in people’s needs that had been identified.

People were regularly asked to provide feedback on the service performance and recently received comments included, “It’s very hard to find fault” and “I really like and trust your workers.” The service’s complaints procedures were well understood and people told us, “I've got no complaints about anything" and "All the carers we have are so approachable about any concerns." Records showed the service provided additional care visits when people were feeling unwell and responded positively to people’s requests to vary the timings of their care visits.