The clients we spoke to, told us how well supported they were by the carers who visited them in their homes. Examples of comments made included 'the carers are excellent without exception', 'the carers are very caring, they always ask if there is anything else they can do', 'the actual staff that do the caring provide a very very good service, nothing is too much trouble', and 'so far I've found them very, very good'. These comments are evidence that clients felt their care needs were met.Clients also told us that recently there had been problems on a few occasions with staff not turning up to give them the care and support that they needed. We were provided with a detailed action plan, by the recently recruited acting manager, setting out how a shortfall in the numbers of staff employed was being addressed. The acting manager said this had led to occasions where there had not been enough staff due to sickness, to carry out all the visits to clients.
We read some care plans that were up to date and explained what support client's needed clearly and informatively. We also read care plans that were not up to date in content, nor did they show how to support clients with their full range of needs, specifically their psychological needs.
Clients were supported by staff who had done training and updated themselves in their knowledge of clients needs. This meant staff had an awareness and good understanding of the needs of the clients they supported.
Clients were being supported by staff who had not been effectively supported and supervised in their work. The newly recruited acting manager was able to provide evidence in an action plan, that they were addressing this and putting in place a suitable system of staff supervision.
There was a lack of evidence that the overall quality of the services clients received had been monitored and reviewed. The acting manager provided evidence in their action plan, that they were addressing this and were going to put in place a suitable system of quality monitoring of the service clients were receiving.