21 March 2014
During an inspection looking at part of the service
When we returned to inspect this time we found few improvements. People who use the service told us that they were getting used to the new way that staff support them now that the service is a domiciliary care agency but we still found that this was not well understood. One person told us "Sometimes I have to wait. I don't know why - maybe they are short staffed. It's not too bad here I suppose but not great", The service was supporting people to manage their money but we found that the system employed did not fully protect them from the risk of financial abuse. We have referred these concerns to the local authority.
The service had made a clear commitment to training and supporting its staff but we continued to find that medicines were not safely administered and that people's care plans were not always up to date. Medication and care plan audits to monitor the quality of the care provided did not happen regularly and were not effective.
We looked at people's care plans and spoke with people who use their service about their care. Most people were happy with their care. One person said "The staff are lovely. I couldn't live without them.We do a certain amount for ourselves but the carers help me do the things I just can't do for myself".
We found that people using the respite service were not happy and felt they had not received the care they needed. We were concerned because there was very little information telling staff how to support people using the respite service with their needs. One person said "Nobody checked I was ok".
We saw that procedures for administering medicines to people were not keeping people safe and could pose a risk to their health. We found that staff were trained and supported to carry out their roles.
The service was not assessing and monitoring its quality. We saw that audits were carried out but some incidences of poor care were repeated because the service did not analyse why they had happened and did not put things in place to make improvements.
One person using the service told us, 'The staff here are very good to me. They help me to stay active and independent and I trust them completely.'
We were told that people were well cared for and they received their medicines at the times they expected them.
People we spoke with said that there were always enough staff available to help them and that they rarely had to wait for assistance.
Tenant meetings were held and people confirmed they could attend if they wanted to.