About the service: Emerald Agency is domiciliary care agency and supported living service. They provide support and personal care to people living in their own apartments or a shared house in Ryde. Not everyone using Emerald Agency received a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection fifteen people were receiving a regulated activity from Emerald Agency.
People’s experience of using this service:
• People were happy with the care they received from the staff at Emerald Agency. One person said, “I’m very happy with everything.”
• People told us they received safe care. People were supported by consistent and suitably trained staff.
• People received support to take their medicines safely and as prescribed.
• Risks to people's well-being and environmental safety were recorded and updated when the circumstances changed.
• People's rights to make their own decisions were respected. Staff supported people to make choices in line with legislation.
• People were supported to access health and social care professionals if needed.
• People's dietary needs were assessed and where required, people were supported with
their meals.
• People were supported to be as independent as possible and encouraged to develop life skills.
• Care plans were detailed and person centred. People were involved in deciding how they wished to be supported and in reviewing their care plans when needed. Information was available in a format they could understand.
• Staff were kind, patient and responsive to people's needs. People were treated with dignity and staff respected their privacy.
• People knew how to complain and were confident that if they raised concerns, the management would act promptly to address these.
• People and staff were fully engaged in the running of the service.
• The management team had effective quality assurance systems in place.
• The service worked well with other partners, organisations and commissioners.
Rating at last inspection:
Good (report published 23 May 2016).
Why we inspected:
This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.