Archived: Park Road Home Care Team 2

We last inspected the service in February 2014 and the service was compliant with the regulations that we looked at.

Park Road Home Care Team 2 is a domiciliary care service. Personal care is provided to people living in flats at Mythom Meadows in Hebden Bridge and Clement Court in Halifax. Staff are based on these sites between 07.30 and 21.30 to provide a contracted homecare service and respond to any requests for additional care and support.

A registered manager was in place. ‘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 about how the service is run.’ The registered manager was supported by a team leader at each of the two locations where the service provided care.

All the people we spoke with told us the service provided a high quality service. They all said care was delivered by staff who treated them with a high level of dignity and respect.

People told us they felt safe using the service and staff understood how to identify and act on any concerns.

Risks to people’s health and safety were well managed by the service. Where incidents had occurred measures had been put in place to reduce the likelihood of a reoccurrence and keep people safe.

There were enough staff deployed to ensure people received a consistent and reliable service. People reported and records confirmed that people received care and support at regular times each day.

Safe recruitment procedures were in place to ensure new staff were of suitable character to care for vulnerable people.

Medicines were managed safely. People told us they received their medicines as prescribed and this was confirmed by documentation we reviewed. The service had recently introduced new paperwork to ensure that a complete record of people’s medicines was present.

People told us staff had the right knowledge and skills to care for them effectively. There was a very low staff turnover which enabled staff to develop a high level of knowledge about the people they were caring for. Staff were supported with appropriate training and supervision.

People were supported to maintain good health. The service liaised with external healthcare professionals where appropriate.

People were supported to maintain good nutrition and hydration by the service.

The service was acting within the legal framework of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). Staff supported people to make informed choices about their care and support.

People all said staff were kind and caring. Staff had developed strong relationships with people and knew them well.

People told us they received appropriate care that met their needs. People said staff arrived at the right time and completed all the required care and support tasks. Records we reviewed provided evidence that this was the case.

A system was in place to record and respond to complaints. People we spoke with told us they were all very happy with the service and had no cause to complain.

Improvements were needed to care plan documentation to ensure they provided clear information on people’s needs and the care and support they required at each visit. However we concluded this had a minimal impact on people who used the service due to how familiar the staff team were with people and their individual needs.

We spoke with 10 people who used the service, one visitor and nine members of staff. These were some of the things they told us:

'The staff are nice. If you need to be somewhere like this you couldn't be in a better place.'

'My needs changed but the care changed as well to make sure I get the right care.'

'They have got a good team here. My friend is treated with dignity and respect. It's a nice place to be.'

'I am always satisfied with what they do for me.'

'The staff are fantastic.'

'The staff team is good, we get on really well and there is a very low turnover. Not many people leave.'

'I enjoy working here, it works really well.'

We found care plans were in place that gave staff some direction about what they needed to do to meet people's care and support needs. The care plans lacked detail about people's personal preferences, routines, likes and dislikes.

There were systems in place to make sure that people were kept safe and procedures for reporting any suspected abuse.

Staff we spoke with told us their training had been good and they felt supported in their role.

Records were stored in locked cabinets and were easily located when requested.

We spoke with two relatives and these are some of the things they told us:

"The staff are fantastic without their help my relative would be in a care home. The staff are well trained and understand the needs of people living with dementia. They are not phased if my relative is having a difficult day. It is only a small staff team and my relative knows them all. The service is personalised and staff are consistent."

"The staff are friendly and approachable. If I ask them to do something specific for my relative it is always done. I like the service they provide and it is reliable"

We also saw a recent letter of compliment that a relative had sent. "it's a wonderful team, staff are very professional and they gave our relative the best care and attention to detail."