Creative Support - Barrow Personalised Services

Creative Support – Cumbria Homecare Service (Furness) provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service is managed from offices in Barrow in Furness. The agency provides domiciliary care to people living in the Furness district of Cumbria. The service supports adults of all ages, who have a variety of care needs due to illness, aging or disability.

This service also provides care and support to people living in eight ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

There were two registered managers employed at the service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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 this was a reliable and responsive service that was well managed and that they received the support they needed from staff they knew well. They described the staff as caring and friendly and told us that they felt safe receiving support from this service. People's dignity and privacy were promoted by the staff supporting them.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice and we found that people were asked for their consent before care was provided and the decisions they made were respected.

The service was providing people with personalised care and support and were particularly good at supporting people to express and work to meet personal goals and aspirations.

Risks to people had been identified, reviewed and were being managed. The risk assessments included people’s medication risks, falls, mobility, equipment in use and the environment people lived in that might affect their safety and that of the staff who visited.

Staff received training relevant to their roles, including safeguarding vulnerable adults. Staff had received supervision from the senior care and management team. Only staff who had received training in safe medicine administration were able to give medicines to people.

There were enough staff employed to meet people's needs and recruitment procedures were thorough. The care staff knew the support people required and people had been involved in planning their care and support.

Auditing and quality monitoring systems were in place that allowed the service to show it was safe and well managed. Staff told us they felt supported in their roles and valued by management.

Further information is in the detailed findings below

Creative Support – Cumbria Homecare Service (Furness) provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service is managed from offices in the centre of Barrow in Furness. The agency provides domiciliary care to people living in the Furness district of Cumbria. The service supports adults of all ages, who have a variety of care needs including due to illness, aging or disability.

The agency also provides supported living services in eight properties in Furness and Kendal. Supported living services involve a person living in their own home and receiving care and/or support in order to promote their independence. The care they receive is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), but the accommodation is not.

There were two registered managers employed at the service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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 this was a good service and said they would recommend it to other people. They said they received the support they needed from staff they knew. They described the staff as kind and caring.

People told us that they felt safe receiving support from this service. Care staff had been recruited safely and trained to meet people’s needs.

Most risks to people had been identified and managed. However we found that the management of some risks needed to be improved. Two risk assessments around the use of equipment were out of date and one staff member had not followed a risk assessment relating to the administration of medication.

People were included in planning and agreeing to the care they received. There were enough staff employed to meet people’s needs. The care staff knew the support people required and the choices they had made about their care. People received the support they needed to maintain their health and wellbeing.

The registered provider had procedures for people to raise concerns about their care and for staff to raise concerns about the conduct of other staff members. Where concerns had been raised these had been investigated thoroughly and appropriate action taken.

People were protected from the risk of abuse and their rights were protected. The registered managers were aware of their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People knew the registered managers and how they could contact them.