11 December 2013
During an inspection in response to concerns
During our inspection we spoke with 12 people who used the service, or their relatives; the manager of the service; the area care delivery director; and seven members of staff.
The service managers acknowledged there had been service delivery issues over the past few months, but said they had made significant progress to manage the concerns and risks. During our inspection we saw the provider was working closely with the Local Authority to address the service performance issues. Local Authority representatives confirmed this.
People who used the service spoke positively about the care they received from their regular care staff. For example, one person said, 'The regular carers are quite good; the others are not as reliable'. Most people told us they had experienced missed or late calls in recent months. Some people said they did not know how to contact the office to report late calls and to find out what was happening.
Staff told us changes to rotas and allocated schedules had led to a number of staff resigning at short notice. This resulted in further increased work load for the remaining staff. Most staff confirmed the number of requests to pick up extra visits had reduced in recent weeks as new staff were recruited.