10 August 2011
During an inspection in response to concerns
During this review of the agency we visited the agency headquarters unannounced and spoke to operational staff and looked at key records including training and recruitment records as well as care plans relating to the care and support they provide to individuals.
We also spoke to 12 service users by phone and visited three in their own homes to check their views on the service they receive from the agency. We spoke to three family members of people who receive care from the agency. We also conducted 5 telephone interviews with care staff.
People who receive care and support for the agency were very positive about the way they were treated by care staff who support them. Comments included '' The care staff are all really lovely.'' ''The staff are wonderful, really helpful and very kind to my relative.''
We saw that although plans of care were in place, they are not always person centred and give sufficient detail about individuals preferred routines to ensure consistent care is given.
People told us that care and support given by their 'local' team of carers was usually on time and that in their opinion staff supported them in a way that met their needs. We were told of examples where care and support did not promote individuals independence and that the agency did not allow for travel time between visits so that some people felt they were being rushed.
We saw that there are clear gaps in training for staff. One staff member said they had been working for over a year and had not had moving and handling training, although they were using hoisting equipment to transfer people in their home. This places both staff and people using the service at risk. We have also been told that none of the staff have had medication training and we are aware that people are being assisted with such medications as eye drops being put in and prompting for taking tablets.
We have been assured by the agency that systems are now in place to ensure that individuals visits do not get missed, as this has been raised as a safeguarding concern for one individual and is being investigated by the safeguarding team of Devon County Council. People that we spoke to said that the service was reliable, that visits were usually only late if traffic was an issue or adverse weather conditions had delayed staff.
We saw that improvements are needed on the recruitment of staff to ensure that they have all relevant checks and references back before they start work with vulnerable people. We also saw that the induction process needs to improve to ensure staff have the right skills to care for people safely and competently.