05 & 07 January 2016
During a routine inspection
The inspection of Castlerock Recruitment Group was unannounced and took place on 5 and 7 January 2016. Castlerock Recruitment Group (Domiciliary Care Agency) is a large domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes in St Helens, Warrington and Halton. The office is based in St Helens.
There is a registered manager in post. 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. The current registered manager is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organisation. We were informed of plans to change the management structure in the future.
At our previous inspection on 30 October and 1 September 2014 we found that the registered provider was in breach of one regulation, relating to quality assurance monitoring. The registered provider sent us an action plan outlining how they would make improvements. We checked for improvements during this inspection and found that the registered provider had made the necessary improvements to comply with the regulation.
People’s care needs were assessed and care plans were put into place to meet those needs. People’s wishes and preferences were recorded in their care plans. Risks to people’s health and well-being were identified and risk assessments were in place to manage those risks.
Effective recruitment processes were in place and appropriately followed by staff.
Staff had received training in how to recognise and report abuse, although there was some uncertainty with some of the staff of how to put their training into practice.
Recently there had been some staff shortages. The registered provider was in the process of interviewing prospective new staff. The present shortages had been covered by the manager and team leaders.
There were systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service. This included gathering the views and opinions of people who used the service and monitoring the quality of service provided. The monitoring of the service delivery was not always effective.
Skills for care induction training in the Care certificate standards was provided to new staff. This training is planned to be provided to existing staff.
There was a complaints policy and procedure in place, with records of complaints that the agency had received. These had been dealt with appropriately and in the relevant timescale.