Archived: The Field Lane Domiciliary Agency

People who used the service spoke about activities they were involved in, such as, shopping, swimming and trips out.

All the people we spoke to told us there was good communication from the agency, staff were professional and knew their or their relative's support needs

All the people we spoke to except for one also told us they had no complaints and felt if they had any concerns they would be listened to.

Two people who used the service told us they had made complaints in the past and that they were listened to and the agency did something about it.

Two people who used the service also told us they would like to be involved in the next inspection.

One person who used the service told us how they were involved in interviewing new staff and were on the interview panel.

We observed staff had a good knowledge of people's needs and communication methods and demonstrated this through their positive interactions with the people who used the service that visited the office, and by promoting their choices and speaking with respect.

We also saw people were confident and felt free to make choices, state their opinions about the service and staff, and make complaints. For example, one person receiving a service was seen to be comfortable giving the manager constructive criticism about where they thought the service needed to improve at shift changes.

We noted good practice with people who used the service being involved in interviewing staff, which also promoted their representation and involvement, diversity during the interview, a message to potential new staff about the service's commitment to involving people and a level of quality monitoring by the people who used the service.

We found the service had suitable arrangements in place for obtaining and acting in accordance with the consent of people who used the service where they had capacity to consent, but did not always have suitable procedures where capacity was lacking.

We saw that people's needs were assessed and care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with their individual care plan.

We found that the health and safety of people was promoted, reviewed and audited and the provider had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people receive and there was also evidence of learning from incidents with appropriate investigations and changes taking place.