Altogether Care - Care At Home Limited Wareham

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. This is the first inspection for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 79 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. All staff worked in collaboration to ensure a quality service for the people. There was an open-door policy, and staff had the opportunity to take part in the running of the service by contributing to one to one and team meetings. The registered manager said, “Our culture is one of openness and honesty. We respect each other and follow the companies staff charter that runs from the provider all the way through. Staff know they can speak openly, be heard and are respected.” Staff told us, “There is an open-door policy, and the registered manager always takes time for us. I feel valued and respected, and this is how we treat our clients.”

The service had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. Staff were provided with appropriate training and support to develop further in their roles. Staff had progressed from carers to managers and felt well supported to carry out their roles. They said, “The registered manager has been incredible with me and supported me from going from being a carer to working as a manager, supporting me to complete my NVQ level 3.”

The service fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff said, “The registered manager has an open door policy and I know I can speak to her or anyone in the office anytime and will be listened to. They are really supportive. We also have an external number we can call if we want to. They always encourage us to talk to them. Yes I always feels listened to.”

The service strongly valued diversity in their workforce. They had an inclusive and fair culture which had improved equality and equity for people who work for them. The provider and registered manager were exceptional at ensuring reasonable adjustments were made to enable staff to do their jobs well. For example, staff told us, “They were the only company that would give me a chance with [protected characteristic] to have my first job in my 30’s. I have been well supported and when I have struggled [registered manager] has made time to sit and talk to me to tell me she has faith in my abilities. I'm so pleased she has, as I absolutely love working in the care sector. With their support I've grown from strength to strength and enjoy the job immensely.”

The service had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and share this securely with others when appropriate. The provider and registered manager completed a range of audits to monitor the quality of the service. When areas of improvement were identified actions had been taken to improve. For example, when people had fallen the registered manager had considered reasons for this and whether additional support was needed to prevent anymore.

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services work seamlessly for people. They share information and learning with partners and collaborate for improvement. The service worked with a range of services such as the local authority to provide the best support possible to people using the service. External partnership organisations told us, “I would agree that they work with all healthcare professionals to ensure good outcomes for people whilst following professional advice.” Staff said, “We support people to go into the community as much as they want to. I supported a person to attend the day centre and found they wanted to do more things like that so arranged for them to go on more days. They really enjoyed it.”

The service focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contribute to safe, effective practice and research. There was an emphasis on continuous improvement with the views of staff and people actively sought both formally and informally. Healthcare professionals told us they were often asked to provide feedback and said, “The service formally seeks our feedback and is open to receiving informal feedback about their performance, for example what is working well and what could be improved. They are open and work to improve in the areas they need to. It is a good service overall. They are responsive and flexible; they will work to put things right when there is room for improvement.”