About the serviceEleanor Nursing and Social Care is a domiciliary care agency 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 our inspection, 45 people were receiving support with personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People did raise some concerns about staffing levels, feeling at times staff were rushed. The registered manager acknowledged that there had been difficulties with staffing levels earlier in the year, compounded by the pressures of the pandemic. However, they told us the service was currently in a much stronger position.
It was evident that many people thought highly of the care staff and were able to build positive relationships with them. Comments included, “Staff are polite, interested in your wellbeing with a very pleasant attitude” and “What is good about this service is that the carers are really nice, really kind and have a sweetness about them.”
There were systems and measures in place to ensure the safety of people supported. This included completing risk assessments for people and updating these as necessary when people’s needs changed. Staff received training in safeguarding and felt confident about raising concerns. Staff had training in how to support people with their medicines and medicine administration was monitored so that any errors could be addressed.
Staff reported feeling well supported and satisfied with the training they received. They had opportunity to shadow other staff when they were new to the service. Their development and training needs were monitored through supervision and appraisal.
The service was well led. The registered manager was supported in their role by senior staff and the business development director. Communication throughout the team of staff was good, with staff reporting they were given information about any change in people’s needs. People using the service told us they were able to get hold of the office staff when they needed to and any concerns or issues they had were addressed.
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.
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 14 May 2020 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned 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.