1 February 2012
During an inspection looking at part of the service
As part of the process we had telephone discussions with five people who received a service and with representatives of three people who would have been unable to share their views with us. We also spoke with five staff and the registered manager. On the day of our visit to the office we reviewed care files and looked at systems in place for monitoring the service provided.
Everyone we spoke with told us that they were very satisfied with the care and support that they received. People told us that they felt involved and consulted in relation to how they received their support. People said that staff knew how to meet their needs and listened to them when they expressed their preferences.
People told us that staff were flexible, obliging and kind. Everyone told us that they thought staff were well trained and did a good job
People told us that staff arrived when they were expected and always stayed the allocated amount of time. People told us that in the unlikely event of them being late that staff from the office would call to let them know.
We were told that the agency asked people if they were happy with the service received and everyone said that they would contact the office if they had any worries or concerns. People said that the managers were easy to talk to and listened to them.
Care plans seen were very detailed and centred around the indentified needs of the individual. This meant that likes and dislikes were recorded as well as any special needs. Staff told us that they liked these documents. One staff member said that they were especially useful when supporting people with complex needs. Risks associated with providing individualised care and support were also documented and ways of reducing these risks were recorded. Again staff told us that these were useful tools to provide safe care.
The agency had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided and the registered manager demonstrated that the agency had responded positively when issues had been identified. The manager was aware of the strengths and the challenges of the agency.