Archived: Mears Care - Workington

Updated 5 April 2018

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.

Inspection site visit activity started on 20 February 2018 and ended on 27 February 2018. We visited the office location on 20, 23 & 27 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. The first day of the site visit was unannounced.

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector and an expert by experience who was experienced in the care of older people. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

We looked at the care records for 11 people who used the service and recruitment records for six staff. We also checked records of staff training, records around how complaints were managed and how the registered provider checked the quality of the service. At our visits to the office we spoke with the registered manager, Mears Regional Director, three senior care coordinators, and five care staff. The expert by experience spoke with 10 people who used the service and 6 people’s relatives on the telephone.

Before the inspection, we asked the provider to complete 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. Due to technical problems a PIR was not available and we took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We did however send out a postal questionnaire and received 13 from people receiving a service and 5 from their relatives.

We reviewed the information we held about the service, including notifications, and used a planning tool to collate all this information before we visited the service. We also contacted the Local Authority commissioning and social work teams and local health care professionals for their views of the service.

Updated 5 April 2018

Mears Care - Workington is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. At the time of our visit they were supporting around 280 people in the Copeland and Allerdale areas. The service also has a contract from the Local Authority to run a night visit scheme.

This inspection took place on 20, 23 & 27 February 2018. At the last inspection 15 July 2016 the service was rated Good overall. However, we made recommendations about staff supervision and training. On this inspection February 2018 we found these areas had now been addressed. There was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

Why the service is rated Good.

We found that the service had been through a recent period of change with a number of new systems and developments that were still being embedded into the service. There had been staff changes and some staff shortages that had affected the delivery of the service. We found that the registered manager and provider were making good progress and had clear action plans to address these issues.

People told us the service was improving and becoming more reliable and care was provided from a mostly consistent group of staff. They told us staff were friendly, and caring and people said their privacy and dignity were respected and promoted by the care staff.

People felt safe when receiving care and support from staff. Staff knew how to recognise and report potential safeguarding issues and they received appropriate training in this area. Risk assessments were in place to protect people from risks but also enabled them to safely carry on their day to day lives.

People were included in planning and agreeing to the care they received. People could ask for changes to their planned care and the service agreed to these where possible.

The service had experienced some staffing shortages from September to December 2017. After a recent recruitment drive staffing levels were now sufficient to ensure people received standards of care that enhanced their welfare, safety and day to day living.

The care staff were well trained and supported to be able to provide the care people needed. Specialist training was given to staff to meet people’s individual support needs.

Staff received comprehensive induction when they first started work at the service and received on-going supervision and an annual appraisal of their performance.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

The service had developed good links with healthcare and social care professionals to support people with their health and well-being. Medicines were handled safely and people received support with their medicines as they needed.

The registered manager set high standards and monitored the quality of the service to check these standards were maintained. Where issues had been highlighted by people we saw the registered manager and provider had taken action to address these. A new IT system for monitoring care visits had begun to see improvements in how the service was run; with punctuality improving and missed calls being prevented.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.