We carried out an announced inspection of the service on 22 June 2015.
Red Cross Crisis Intervention Community Support provides short term personal care and support to people in the Nottingham area. There were 22 people receiving care in their own homes at the time of our visit.
There was a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People felt the service was safe and reliable. The provider had arrangements in place to identify the possibility of abuse and to reduce the risk of people experiencing abuse. Appropriate risk assessments had been undertaken to make sure people’s needs were met in a safe way.
People were supported by appropriate staff, because the provider had a robust recruitment process in place. There were sufficient numbers of staff to cover calls in an effective.
People were not protected from the risks associated with managing medicines. There were no robust processes in place to ensure medicines were handled and administered safely.
People were supported to make informed choices and staff had awareness of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005.The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is designed to protect people who do not have the capacity to make certain important decisions for themselves.
People and their families were involved in decisions related to their care and support. Care plans were clear, precise and contained information to reflect people’s needs.
Care plans contained information relevant to the person, but they did not identify individual life stories to make their care personalised to them. People were encouraged to be independent and received relevant information on how the service was run. People felt that they could express their views about the service that they received.
People received good care which met their needs. They were treated with respect and the staff provided the care in a caring way.
People knew how to raise any concerns and they knew who they should contact and raise the concern with. The provider followed their procedures to ensure any complaints or concerns were dealt with in a timely manner. Outcomes of complaints were reviewed by the registered manager to improve the practise and to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.
The service was not monitored regularly by the provider and registered manager to make sure a quality service was provided at all times.
People were encouraged to express their views and comment on how the service was run.
The management team worked well and supported staff accordingly. The service worked well with other professionals and the care commissioners.
Overall, we found shortfalls in the care and service provided to people. We identified one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.