The Care Quality Commission

Archived: Passion 4 Care Birmingham

236 Slade Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, B23 7RH (0121) 384 3035

Provided and run by:
Mrs Ashilge Meian

Important: This service is now registered at a different address - see new profile

All Inspections

26 June and 1, 3 July 2013

During a routine inspection

When we visited the service it was providing personal care to approximately 80 people in their own homes across the city. We spoke with 11 people who used the service or their relatives. People were generally positive about the care workers and about the managers of the service. The service provided intensive daily care and support to some people with very complex needs who had challenged other services.

People told us; "I got no problem with them"; "Marvellous! I love them. Don't you change my carers please"; "I have some really nice carers- really brilliant, the manager is really helpful".

People's needs were assessed to establish the care they needed and how risks presented by their needs should be managed by care staff. People's care was planned to protect their welfare however some people who had left hospital did not have an updated written plan.

Most people that we spoke to told us that carers regularly turned up late, "Sometimes they are very late, they are late already today".

There were effective recruitment and selection processes in place and staff were familiar with people's needs, were supported to provide care to people and were given training.

New systems and structures that were being put in place to respond to shortfalls in monitoring the quality of the service that we found at the last inspection were still in the process of being worked up. They were not yet effective enough to ensure the reliability of the service in some respects.

1 February 2013

During an inspection in response to concerns

We received information from family members of two people who used the service that the service was not always reliable. Walsall Council told us that they recently had difficulty investigating some concerns and complaints about the service because the provider did not respond to their requests for information. We found that the provider did not have an effective and sufficiently robust system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received. The provider told us that visits to some people had been missed because of the bad weather and snow. The provider had not informed us of this.

When we visited the service we specifically focused on the care of five people with complex needs. We found that each person had a clear and up to date plan of care to meet their needs and manage the risks presented by their conditions. Their needs were met by staff with the appropriate knowledge, qualifications and skills.

We found that the service was in the process of moving its office. We had not been informed about this change of location of a registered service.

18 September 2012

During an inspection looking at part of the service

When we inspected the service on 12 September 2012 people who received the service were not able to give us their views because of their complex needs and conditions. We used a number of methods to understand their experience of the service including speaking with their relatives, looking at care records and speaking with care workers.

People expressed confidence that their relative's care was planned, managed and delivered in the way that was promised by the local authority that funded it. They told us that the workers caring for their relatives had a good manner, respected people's dignity and spoke to them as adults.

People told us that it took the service a little trial and error to match workers with the approach necessary to care for their relative's complex needs. They said that once that was achieved they had been able to depend on the service. They said that care workers were competent and had good communication skills.

26 May 2011 and 18 September 2012

During an inspection in response to concerns

Members of the two families we asked, whose relatives used the service told us that they found the agency to be reliable. They said that it sent the same care assistants regularly. One family member said that the agency tried to always send staff of the gender that their relative preferred for personal care assistance. Both family members said that the care staff were practical and proactive in the care of their relative and that this helped the family to manage. They told us that the agency invoicing system was accurate and transparent.