East Sussex, Brighton & Hove Crossroads Care

Updated 28 March 2020

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and one bank inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider/registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 6 March 2020 and we visited the office on the 10 March 2020.

What we did before inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We reviewed information from other agencies and statutory notifications sent to us by the registered manager about events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited the office and spoke with the registered manager/provider, client liaison, care manager and six relatives/parents of people who received care and support from the service. We reviewed a range of records. These included three care records, five staff files and records relating to the management and day to day running of the service. We looked at medication administration records and daily notes completed by care support workers in people’s home.

After the inspection

We telephoned and spoke with three care support workers, reviewed documentation provided by the registered manager and received feedback by email from a health professional who works with the service.

Updated 28 March 2020

East Sussex, Brighton & Hove Crossroads Care provides respite support for people caring for others in their homes across East Sussex. They also provide ‘My Health Matters’. This is a service to support family carers to attend health care appointments.

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. The service supports a high number of people across East Sussex, but many of these visits do not include provision of personal care. On the day of the inspection, the service was supporting 14 adults and children with a range of health and social care needs, including emotional and physical disability and people living with dementia. Support was tailored according to people’s assessed needs, considering people’s individual preferences and lifestyles to help people to live and maintain independent lives and remain in their homes.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Care and support visits provided by Crossroads Care may be a one off visit or a regular planned visit. They may even be support to meet people’s needs in an emergency for example if a family carer was taken into hospital or became unwell. During visits care support workers provided the care to people they would normally receive from their relative or carer. This was to enable the family carer to have a period of respite or to attend health appointments.

We were unable to speak with people using the service due to their health or communication needs. We spoke to parents and relatives who cared for people at home to gain feedback on the service.

Care was provided in a person centred way. Robust systems of reviewing and monitoring care provision and staffing ensured that people received effective care that met their current and changing needs.

The registered manager was in day to day charge of the service. Supported by a dedicated team of administration and care support staff. A high level of care meant peoples independence and welfare was supported. Respite visits enabled people’s relatives/carers to have time to do things that were important to them, reassured that care was being provided that met the persons need. The service also provided ‘Your Health Matters’ visits, where they took over a person’s care for a short time to enable their relative/carer to attend a health appointment.

Relatives/carers spoke positively about the care and support provided by Crossroads Care. Everyone spoke highly of the management and staff providing care and felt people were treated with kindness and respect. This in turn ensured they felt safe and well supported. The service worked closely with people’s families and other healthcare professionals involved in people’s care provision.

Relatives/carers told us, “He is safe in their care. He has had the same support worker over a year now and when she hasn’t been able to come, there has been cover from [staff name], who is equally competent. He wears a special hearing aid and has communication difficulties, which they have to manage. And they do this well.”

Sufficient staff were available to ensure people's wellbeing and safety was protected. The registered manager and office staff were trained to provide care and were able to carry out visits in the event of a member of care support staff going off sick or in an emergency.

A robust recruitment and selection process was also in place. Staff completed a full induction which included mandatory training and support. Staff told us they received all the training they needed to meet peoples care needs. Staff felt supported and received regular spot checks, supervision and appraisals.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Relatives/carers felt people were offered choice in the way their care was delivered and that they had no concerns around their dignity and privacy in their own homes being respected. One said, “They are very watchful of the safety of the environment. I have no concerns about their respect for our home in my absence, I trust them absolutely.”

The provider had robust of quality assurance systems in place to measure and monitor the standard of the service. This included a number of audits and reviews. Systems supported people to stay safe by assessing and mitigating risks, ensuring that people were cared for in a person-centred way. Actions were identified and taken forward to ensure continued learning and improvement.

Relatives/carers told us they thought the service was well managed and they received good quality care that met people’s needs and improved their wellbeing from caring and compassionate staff. One told us, “The care support worker is totally competent, she can deal with anything that arises, never panics. She says if she thinks there is anything I need to attend to, and texts me if she needs to double check anything during a visit.”

The registered manager and staff attended forums and worked with other care agencies. This meant that best practice could be shared, and on-going learning was facilitated.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection.

The last rating for this service was Good (published 13 September 2017)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.