Newmark Care Limited provides personal care to people in their own homes and during community based activities. It currently supports seven young people with learning disabilities, aged 8-18. At the time of inspection there were four young people using the service, as people had gone away during the school holidays and did not require the service.
This was an announced visit which took place on 19th August 2015, 21st August 2015, 24th August 2015.This was the first inspection of this service. The service provides personal care and support to people in their own homes and during community based activities. The service operates seven days per week.
The service had a registered manager who was present on the day of inspection. 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.
Staff we spoke with, and the registered manager, spoke respectfully and compassionately about the children and young people who used the service. They had a good understanding and knowledge of their individual likes and dislikes and their support needs.
People and their relatives told us they felt safe with the staff that supported them; they said staff knew them well. They spoke positively about the flexibility of the service and the consistency of support and caring attitude of the staff and registered manager.
A safe system of recruitment was in place. There were sufficient numbers of staff, who were well trained and effectively supported. They were able to provide the children and young people who used the service with the care and support needed.
We found policies and procedures were in place to safeguard children and young people from abuse. Staff were well trained and were aware of how to identify and respond to allegations or signs of abuse.
People’s care records and risk assessments were detailed and person-centred. They provided enough information to guide staff in providing safe and appropriate support to the children and young people.
We saw that children and young peoples rights and choices were respected. The registered manager and staff we spoke with had a good understand of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. (MCA) The MCA provides legal safeguards for people who may be unable to make their own decisions.
We found there were good systems in place to deal with complaints. We saw systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service and to gather information on how the service could be improved. Relatives we spoke with told us that the registered manager was approachable and encouraged them to visit the office or contact the registered manager’s mobile telephone if there was a problem with the service.