Archived: Crossroads Together Greater Manchester

Crossroads Care Greater Manchester provides care and support to adults and children living in their own homes in the Bury area only.

People’s experience of using this service

People who used the service, parents and a relative spoke positively about their experiences and the quality of care and support offered. We were told that staff were kind and respectful and were aware of the individual needs, risks and wishes of people. They told us that support workers had enough time to perform tasks and would spend time listening to what they had to say.

People told us that they were supported by staff who knew them well. People were supported by small consistent staff teams. When taking on new staff the service ensured appropriate checks were carried out to check candidates’ suitability to work with vulnerable people. Ongoing training provided staff with up to date knowledge and understanding of their care and support responsibilities.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests.

People were given opportunities to provide feedback on the quality of their support and given the opportunity to comment on the service they received. There were processes in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service.

There was evidence of management and oversight of the service. Audits and checks were completed to monitor and review the service. Records showed that any themes or patterns were explored; where improvements had been identified, the management team shared any ‘lessons learnt’ across the organisation to help improve practice.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection the service was rated Good (25 November 2016).

At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit in accordance with our re-inspection programme.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Crossroads Care Bury, Manchester and Tameside is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, the service was only providing the service in the Bury area. Crossroads Care Bury, Manchester and Tameside is part of a national charity and supports family carers to enable them to continue to look after relatives of all ages who have a disability or life affecting illness. Crossroads is a not for profit organisation.

Crossroads provides carers with flexible short breaks and personal care services for the people they care for. At the time of our visit, the service was supporting 52 adults and 25 children with various personal care needs. The frequency of visits ranged from one visit per week to four visits per day depending on people’s individual needs.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People told us they felt safe using the service. Staff we spoke with were able to recognise and knew how to respond to should they suspect that abuse was happening. There were robust recruitment procedures in place to help ensure that people were supported by staff who were suitable to work with vulnerable children and adults.

People received very good continuity of support from reliable staff who knew both the family and the person they were caring for very well. Staff had the time they needed to support people in an unhurried way.

Individual and environmental risks had been identified as part of the assessment and care planning process.

Systems were in place for the safe management of medicines as well as infection control and protection procedures.

Carers and where able those they were caring for were actively involved in the assessment of care and support needs to ensure their views and choices were respected. People who used the service and their families were also actively involved in developing their care plan to help ensure that personal preferences were taken into account.

Staff we spoke with had an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act and how to ensure that people’s rights were protected.

The provider ensured that staff had the knowledge and skills they needed to support people safely and effectively. Staff we spoke with told us that there was good communication and teamwork and they were supported well by the management and office team.

We saw that carers, young carers, trustees and volunteers could access training about specific health needs and also other training such as reminiscence therapy and the grieving wheel.

People told us that they thought that reliability, flexibility, continuity and familiarity provided by the service were essential to them. One person being cared for said that the service was, “Reliable and provides good continuity which is important. I feel safe with them and they respect that this is my house.” Another person said, “They get to know both you and your family.”

Parents told us about how the support they received from Crossroads enabled them to have quality time with the cared for child’s siblings, with school and outside the home activities. They said this time was very important to them and helped to enhanced day-to-day family life.

The service worked in partnership with many other organisations and agencies within the local community. They actively supported the Musical Memories group for people with dementia and their families. This helped to promote community presence and reduce people’s sense of social isolation.

As part of their care records people were given information as to how they could make a complaint about the service.

The registered manager was committed to continuous improvement. The recent notifications we had received where negative concerns had been raised showed that the registered manager carried out a thorough investigation and identified what action needed to be taken to prevent the incident reoccurring.