Archived: Allied Healthcare - Eastbourne

We found that care plans were personalised, and clearly documented the needs of people. Staff we spoke with were able to tell us about people they were providing care for, and felt that documentation was in place to inform them of people’s care needs. Some of the people we spoke with who used the service told us they were happy with the care they received. However concerns were expressed in relation to new care staff or those who had not visited before being unsure of their role. Issues were also expressed regarding cancelled visits, late arrival of care staff and lack of communication regarding changes to peoples visit plans and rotas.

Staff demonstrated a good understanding about how to recognise and report safeguarding concerns. All care staff had received safeguarding training.

Care staff had received supervision and appraisals. Staff told us that they generally felt supported by staff in the local office. However, on occasions they felt pressured to cover extra shifts. This included being contacted on their days off by the ‘on-call’ team, which was not locally based.

There were systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of service provided. Auditing systems were in the process of being updated, and complaints, accidents and incidents had been monitored and reviewed.

We found that care plans were personalised, and clearly documented the needs of people. Care was provided to meet individual needs. Medication policies and protocols had been followed, and staff were receiving appropriate training to provide care. The provider had appropriate systems in place to monitor and improve the service.