Archived: Comfort Call Salford

We found written consent had been obtained for care plans, medication administration and service contract agreements from people who used the service or their representatives.

We found risk assessments were in place which provided clear instruction to staff to meet the individual needs of people who used the service.

One person told us; "You often hear bad things these days, but my carers have been absolutely wonderful.'

We saw criminal records bureau (CRB) disclosures had been obtained for all staff and at least two references had been obtained prior to commencing employment.

We found that the provider had a comprehensive system in place to monitor the quality of the service they provided.

All records we looked at were paper based; they were accurate and well maintained.

Care records showed that people had been involved in the planning of their care, and our discussions with people and care workers confirmed this. People told us that Comfort Call Salford listened to their needs and one comment was 'We are most grateful to Comfort Call for providing us with appropriate staff. It is important to us'. All the people we spoke with said they were happy with the care they received Comments included '[The care workers] are very good, very hands on' and 'The care package is terrific. I'm delighted'.

We saw that care workers had received training in nutrition and healthy eating within the previous year. Records provided evidence that people were given a varied diet, and they chose the food they preferred.

Everyone we spoke with had been told how to make a complaint. The staff were aware of the procedure to follow, and the records we saw showed that complaints were dealt with appropriately.

People told us that they received the care they needed, even if at times it was later than expected or an unfamiliar care worker attended. Care workers confirmed that if they were unable to cover for staff shortages care coordinators were trained to provide care and would cover when needed.