Archived: Spectrum Domiciliary Care Service

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on our observations during the inspection, speaking with one person who used the service, five relatives, two staff members and from looking at records. Spectrum Domiciliary Care Service provided outreach support for seven people in the community and 24 hour support for one person in their own home.

If you want to see the evidence support our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

We spoke with relatives of people who had outreach support from Spectrum DCA. They told us staff turned up on time and stayed for the duration of the visit. People said they felt confident staff could meet the care needs of their family member.

Relatives we spoke with told us if they had any concerns they would be able to raise them with staff or the registered manager and felt they would be listened too and that action to address their concerns would occur.

Care plans were individualised and contained information that directed and informed staff to provide appropriate care and support.

Staff knew about risk management plans and showed us examples where they had followed them. People were not put at unnecessary risk, but also had access to choice and remained in control of decisions about their care and lives.

The registered manager set the staff rotas. They took people's care needs into account when making decisions about the allocation of staff and their particular skills/interests to meet the needs of people who used the service. This helped to ensure that people's needs were met.

Medication systems needed to be more robust to ensure that there was a safe system in place for staff so that all medication was accounted for at all times. At the time of the inspection there was no record of the medication taken from a person's home, and what was returned following a trip out. Therefore there was no accountability in how the medication was handled which could place staff at risk of accusations of mismanagement of medicines.

Due to the lack of a robust system for recording medicines we found Spectrum DCA was not a safe service.

Is the service effective?

People's health and care needs were assessed with them, or their representative. Where possible people, or their representatives, were involved in writing their plans of care. One person told us that their care needs were met. Four out of five relatives we spoke with told us staff met their family members care needs. Comments included, 'so far so good' and 'I would recommend them'.

We found all people who used the service had a care plan and the information was up to date and had been reviewed regularly.

We saw documentation showing Spectrum Domiciliary Care Agency worked effectively with other agencies.

We found Spectrum DCA was an effective service.

Is the service caring?

We spoke with one person being supported by the service and five relatives. We asked them for their opinions about the staff that supported them. Feedback from the relatives was in the main positive, for example, 'The staff are patient with X', 'it's working out well' and they 'turn up on time, stay for the duration of the visit and are flexible'.

We saw that staff showed, through their actions, conversations and during discussions with us, empathy and understanding towards the people they cared for.

People who used the service, their relatives and staff were in the process of completing an annual satisfaction survey. The initial findings of the surveys were positive in all aspects of care delivered.

We found Spectrum DCA was a caring service.

Is the service responsive?

People knew how to make a complaint if they were unhappy. A relative told us they had raised a concern and felt this had been responded to satisfactorily. We saw that concerns raised had been dealt with in line with the service's complaints policy.

The service worked well with other agencies and services to make sure people received care in a coherent way.

We found Spectrum DCA was a responsive service.

Is the service well-led?

The service had commenced a quality assurance system and was implementing an action plan to address the issues raised. As a result the quality of the service was continuously improving.

We saw minutes of regular meetings held with the staff and management team. This showed the management consulted with staff regularly to gain their views and experiences and improve support for people who used the service.

Staff told us they were offered relevant and useful training on a regular basis. Staff also told us they felt supported by the registered manager and could approach them at any time if they had a concern.

Following the inspection we spoke with one person who used the service and three relatives. Due to peoples complex communication needs we were unable to speak with anyone else who used the service.

We spoke with the day to day manager, the registered manager and four members of staff. One member of staff told us the job was, 'Rewarding, its tiny little steps and then you get a smile!'

We saw care plans were well laid out and gave staff clear guidance as to how to support people well.

Systems for safeguarding people were satisfactory. Staff were able to demonstrate to us an understanding of the safeguarding process.

Staff levels were sufficient to safeguard the welfare of people who used the service.

We saw documentation showing Spectrum Domiciliary Care Service worked effectively with other agencies.

Spectrum Domiciliary Care Service did not have an effective system in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of the services provided.

In this report the name of a registered manager appears who was not in post and not managing the regulatory activities at this location at the time of the inspection. Their name appears because they were still a Registered Manager on our register at the time.

We met with the person who used the service and Outreach Support Workers (OSW). We observed OSW interacting with the person in a kind and calm manner. We saw that OSW showed, through their actions, conversations and during discussions with us empathy and understanding towards the person they cared for.

We examined people's care files and found the records were up to date and reviewed as the person's needs/wishes changed.

Systems for safeguarding people were satisfactory. Legal safeguards, which protect people unable to make decisions about their own welfare, were understood by outreach support workers and used to protect people's rights.

Spectrum had a robust recruitment procedure. OSW said they had received sufficient training to enable them to carry out their roles competently.

We were told staffing levels would be reviewed as the service develops.