Archived: Crossroads Together Merseyside

Crossroads Together Merseyside is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 145 people at the time of the inspection.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People's experience of using this service and what we found

People received their medicines as prescribed. However, we found some gaps and the use of incorrect codes on some of the Medication Administration Records. Some recording errors had already been identified by the providers systems and action was taken to drive improvement. However, some of the recording issues were not identified. While we were assured this did not directly impact on the person receiving care, we raised our concerns with the registered manager who took immediate action to improve auditing processes in relation to medicines.

Staff were safely recruited. Rotas showed there were enough staff to safely care for people. Most people were supported by a small and consistent staff team. Relatives we spoke with told us staff were punctual.

Risk to people's health and safety had been assessed on an individual basis. Care plans and risk assessments gave staff detailed guidance to help mitigate risks related to areas such as medicines, mobility and eating and drinking.

There were effective safeguarding systems for adults and children. All people and relatives we spoke with told us they felt safe with staff. Comments included, “I trust them implicitly.”

Staff followed good infection control practices to help prevent the spread of healthcare related infections.

Care plans contained detailed information about people's eating and drinking needs and included people's preferences. Staff received training to complete their job roles effectively and gained practical experience by shadowing experienced staff. Relatives told us staff were competent in their roles.

People were treated with kindness and respect. Staff showed good understanding of people's likes, dislikes and preferences and explained how they supported people according to these. Staff spoke with compassion when describing their role and the people they cared for.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People's communication needs and any assistance they needed was recorded in their care plan. Care plans were written in a way which focused on promoting people’s independence. Where people required support with activities, records showed people’s interests were considered in helping to produce an activity programme which was tailored to them.

There was good partnership with external health professionals to provide people with compassionate end of life care.

There was an open culture in which all safety concerns raised were highly valued as integral to learning and improvement. The culture of the service focused on ensuring people received person-centred care that met their needs and preferences.

The views of people using the service were at the core of quality monitoring and assurance arrangements. The provider involved people, relatives and staff through regular reviews, team meetings and satisfaction surveys. The registered manager understood the importance of using this feedback to improve the service.

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

Rating at last inspection

This is the first inspection for this newly registered service.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.