People said they were satisfied with the care staff from Alpha Homecare. They felt staff were usually punctual and knew how to do their jobs. People felt staff treated them with respect, listened to what they said, and were flexible.
All the comments about the standard of support from care staff were positive.
We were told:
'The fact is the girls come and help, they respond to our requests, they're great,'
'We're comfortable with the staff.'
'I can't complain about anything, I couldn't manage without them.'
'I'm happy with the care, if I wasn't I would ring Alpha up.'
'The girls are great. They're helpful, I've got no problems with them.'
'We never get two strangers.'
Some people felt it was easy to contact the management and people in the Alpha the office.
They said:
'If I have a problem I ring the office and I know who to speak to.'
And
'We have never felt let down. The manager has come and worked in the home. And I know how to contact the office but never had a need to complain.'
However most people said they had problems contacting the office staff, the manager and supervising staff.
Peoples comments included:
'It's hard to get hold of people in the office.'
'I can ring and leave messages but no one ever gets back to me.'
And
'It's hard to get hold of people either they're not available or there's no answer.'
People also said it was rare for them to be contacted by senior staff about the quality of the service.
'The office never ever rings.'
'No one from the office at Alpha rings.'
'The administration is abysmal and I've not received any feedback from a questionnaire I returned a while ago.'
And
'I think it would be good to know from the office which staff are coming from day to day. The carers tell me but I think it would be better coming from the office.'
We discussed these matters with the management team. We were informed that the company had installed a new telephone system and this would record and monitor calls to the office. We also discussed the new rules that had been introduced to improve the running of the office and the availability of office staff, which means some problems should be solved.
We also discussed the need to monitor the effectiveness of these changes. The manager stated she expected an immediate reduction in complaints and this would help to indicate whether communication was improving.