All care staff have received in their rotas all the names and telephone numbers of where to report any potential safeguarding issues.
We now judge that people who use the service were protected from the risk of abuse, because the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening.
People's needs were assessed and the care provided was planned and delivered in line with their individual support plan. We saw evidence of risk assessments that ensured people's safety and welfare.
We did note however that although staff could identify people at risk of or suffering abuse three out of four members of staff we spoke with were unable to tell us who they would inform if the manager was unavailable. They were not aware that contact details for the local authority, CQC etc. were located inside the front cover of people's care plans.
Comments from people included, for example:
' "I have had their help for a while now and I can count on them'
' 'They are always friendly and know what they are doing'
' 'I think they do a good job."
People told us they liked to have regular care workers so that they can get to know them. They acknowledged that sometimes this was not possible because of sickness or holidays. They told us that on the whole the agency management team 'do their best' to send the same person to support them although some people had in the past complained about getting too many different care workers sent to their home.
All the people we visited at home said they get a reliable service from the agency.