This inspection took place on 11 and 14 April 2016 and was announced. This was our first inspection of Wisdom Support Services Ltd at this location. Wisdom Support Services Ltd is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support for people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection they were providing personal care to 12 people. The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People said they felt safe and staff treated them well. The service had appropriate safeguarding adults procedures in place and staff had a clear understanding of these procedures. Appropriate recruitment checks took place before staff started work. There was a whistle-blowing procedure available and staff said they would use it if they needed to. People were supported, where required, to take their medicines as prescribed by health care professionals.
The manager had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and acted according to this legislation. Staff had completed an induction when they started work and they were up to date with their training. People had access to health care professionals when they needed them.
People had been consulted about their care and support needs. Care plans and risk assessments provided information for staff on how to support people to meet their needs. People’s care files included assessments relating to their dietary support needs. People were aware of the complaints procedure and said they were confident their complaints would be listened to, investigated and action taken if necessary.
Staff said they enjoyed working at the service and they received good support from the manager. They said there was an out of hours on call system in operation that ensured management support and advice was always available when they needed it.
The provider recognised the importance of monitoring the quality of the service provided to people. They took into account the views of people using the service through telephone monitoring calls and satisfaction surveys. The manager carried out unannounced spot checks to people’s homes make sure people were supported in line with their care plans. We saw a new quality monitoring form which the provider planned to use to monitor the quality of the service that people received. We were not able to assess the impact of the new system on people's care as the system was not in place at the time of inspection. We will assess this at our next inspection of the service.