Altogether Care - Care At Home Limited Christchurch

Updated 5 April 2024

Our view of the service Altogether Care - Care At Home Limited Christchurch is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care to adults of working age and older adults in their own homes. Not everyone who uses the service receives personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. People who use the service live in and around east Dorset, including Bournemouth and Christchurch. We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it. The assessment took place 22 April to 10 June 2024. We visited the office on 24 April 2024. At the time of our site visit there were 124 people receiving personal care from the service. The assessment covered 23 quality statements. It was the first assessment of the service under its current registration. Whilst this assessment reflects a rating of good for safe, effective, and well led, other key questions remain unrated because we have not yet reviewed all the quality statements for those key questions. People received safe, respectful care that was centred on their individual needs and preferences. Staff had the training and support they needed to provide safe, effective care. The registered managers and provider had clear oversight of the service.

Updated 5 April 2024

People told us they were happy with their care from Altogether Care - Care At Home Limited Christchurch. They felt secure with their care workers, who provided the support they needed to help them remain safe, comfortable, and as independent as possible. They generally had good communication with the office team when needed. People’s care calls were usually when they expected, although a few people said they did not receive a rota and had varied appointment times. Some people had a regular team of staff whereas others reported frequent changes in staff. The management team were working to address this. Despite some people experiencing changing staff, staff knew people well, understanding their needs and preferences. A person commented, “I feel that I am being treated as an individual, not as one of many. My care is for me not anyone else and that’s what I like.” The service operated in a way that promoted people’s human rights. It also collected thorough information during assessments, including people’s equality characteristics and what was important to them. People’s preferences for gender-specific care workers were respected. Staff felt well supported through training and supervision. They were committed to providing care that was centred on people’s individual needs and met their preferences. Staff were recruited safely, following the necessary pre-employment checks. They knew how to raise concerns and were confident the management team would take appropriate action if they did so. The management team had clear oversight of the service. They were proactive in learning from events and bringing about improvements following audits or feedback about the service.