Archived: Allied Health-Services Wirral

Allied Health-Services Wirral is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received 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. At the time of the inspection, the service was providing personal care to 137 people.

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

Systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service were not always effective in identifying areas of the service that required improvement. Although people’s feedback regarding their care was positive, people told us they did not feel the service was always well managed. Systems were in place to gather people’s views regarding the service and staff meetings provided staff with the opportunity to have their say. The registered manager and staff were aware of their responsibilities and told us they would recommend the service.

People told us they felt safe with the support provided by staff. We found however, that risk was not always assessed and managed comprehensively. For instance, one person’s plan of care was not always followed by all staff. There were sufficient numbers of safely recruited staff to meet people’s needs. Staff were knowledgeable about safeguarding procedures and knew how to respond in the event of an emergency, such as if a person was unwell or had fallen.

People told us they did not always receive person centred care, as staff were not always aware of their needs or how they wanted to be supported. However, people that had support from regular care staff, felt the staff knew them and their preferences well. People did not always know what time staff were scheduled to arrive, or which staff member would be visiting. We made a recommendation about this in the main body of the report. Care plans were detailed and reflected people’s needs and preferences. People’s communication needs were assessed and recorded and people knew how to raise any concerns they had.

People and their relatives told us staff treated people with kindness and compassion, protected their dignity and provided support in ways which promoted their independence. People were involved with the development and review of their plans of care.

Systems were in place to gain people’s consent to the care provided. 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; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff were supported in their roles through an induction, training and regular supervisions and appraisals. People told us they felt staff were well trained and staff agreed that they had access to mandatory training, as well as any additional courses they felt would benefit them to support people effectively.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 18 January 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was undertaken in line with our inspection schedule for newly registered services.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and the governance of the service at this inspection.

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.