Archived: Crossroads Care Liverpool Knowsley Sefton & Warrington

Updated 3 December 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 9, 10 and 11 November 2016. We gave 24 hours’ notice to make sure that the registered manager or senior staff would be available. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector. Before the inspection, the provider completed a ‘Provider Information Return’ (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We visited the office on 9, 10 and 11 November 2016 and looked at records, which included five people’s care records, four staff files and other records relating to the management of the service. We spoke with the operations manager, four senior care coordinators, the training manager, a senior carer/support worker and three care and support staff. The inspection also included home visits on the 11 November 2016 to three people who used the service.

Before our inspection, we looked at information the Care Quality Commission (CQC) had received about the service including notifications received from the registered manager. We checked that we had received these in a timely manner. We also looked at safeguarding referrals, complaints and any other information received from members of the public.

Updated 3 December 2016

We visited Crossroads Care Liverpool Knowsley Sefton & Warrington on the 9, 10 and 11 November 2016. Crossroads Care Liverpool Knowsley Sefton & Warrington provides care and support to adults and children in their own homes. The service also provides a STARS service for end of life care working closely with the NHS and Marie Curie services (Support, Talk, Act, Review, Share). At the time of our visit, the service was providing support for 73 people. There were 42 staff employed with on-going recruitment.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

The registered manager was not available at the time of this inspection and the operations manager with the support of three senior staff provided all of the required information.

There was a safeguarding policy in place and staff were aware of the safeguarding procedure in relation to safeguarding adults and all were aware of the need to inform the manager or senior staff immediately.

Staff were recruited correctly using safe checks such as criminal conviction records (DBS). There was an induction programme in place which included training staff to ensure they were competent in the role they were doing in the community. Staff received on-going and regular training to enable them to work safely and effectively, specialist training was also provided when required.

We have made a recommendation about staff recruitment records.

Staff knew what to do if any difficulties arose whilst supporting somebody, or if an accident happened. Incidents and accidents were recorded and learned from.

The opinions of people we spoke with were that the service was very good/excellent. People told us they were happy with the staff and felt that the staff understood their care needs. People confirmed that staff stayed for the length of time allocated, arrived on time and had regular staff providing their care. People confirmed that calls were rarely missed and that an on-call system was always available. All of the people we spoke with had no complaints about the service.

The staff employed by Crossroads Care Liverpool Knowsley Sefton & Warrington knew the people they were supporting and the care they needed. People who used the service and staff told us that Crossroads Care Liverpool Knowsley Sefton & Warrington was well led and staff told us that they felt well supported in their roles. We saw that the operations manager and senior staff had a visible presence and it was obvious that they knew the people who they supported really well.