25 June 2012
During a themed inspection looking at Domiciliary Care Services
We carried out a themed inspection looking at domiciliary care services. We visited three people in their own home as part of this inspection and spoke with them and in two instances their relatives about their experiences of the support they had received. We spoke with the manager and three staff at the time of our visit to the office and during the home visits. We also spoke with four staff over the telephone and a relative.
In addition we asked an Expert by Experience to write to people who used the service and then telephone a number of those people. Experts by Experience have personal experience of using similar services and were working on behalf of the Care Quality Commission to find out about the experiences and views of people using this service. We spoke with four people who received care from this service. We have included the information they were given through out this report.
People spoke very positively about the staff and felt that they fully supported their care needs. People said that all the staff spoke with them in a calm and respectful way and respected their privacy.
One said, 'They (the staff) speak to me with respect and humour'.
People spoken with told us that their care was personalised to their needs. People said their preferred names were always used.
One said, 'They (the staff) have been absolutely fabulous every one of them, they stay the full time and sometimes longer'.
People were aware of their care plan although could not always recall the detail. They confirmed that they and sometimes their family had been involved in discussions about their care, when the service had first started.
People felt that staff had received training and had the necessary skills in order to meet their needs.
People told us that they felt safe when staff visited and if they had any concerns they would speak with a family member or somebody from the office. People were confident any concerns would be addressed. People, who had used the service for sometime, confirmed they had been asked to give feedback on the service provided.