Inspection Report on
Coleridge Homes Ltd TA Home Instead Senior Care HOME INSTEAD
KINGSWAY FFORESTFACH SWANSEA
SA5 4DL
Date Inspection Completed
04/07/2019
Welsh Government © Crown copyright 2019.
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Description of the service
Home Instead Senior Care (Swansea) is a domiciliary support service that provides
personal care to adults that includes those with dementia/mental infirmity, physical disability and sensory loss/impairment.
The registered provider is Coleridge Homes Limited. The responsible individual is Mr Ben Ruddle and the manager is registered with Social Care Wales. The registered office is located in Fforestfach, Swansea and is easily accessible to people.
Summary of our findings
1. Overall assessment
People are supported to do what matters to them by kind and caring staff. People have a voice and are respected. Care documentation demonstrates people’s involvement with their personal plans and the goals they identify. People are supported by motivated, well-trained care workers (known as care givers by the service) who are committed to making a
difference to people’s lives. Quality assurance processes are in place to ensure continued improvement and development of the service.
2. Improvements
This was the first inspection under the new legislation - Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016.
3. Requirements and recommendations
We did not identify any areas of non-compliance or make any recommendations at this inspection.
1.Well-being Our findings
People have good relationships with care workers. We received many favourable
comments relating to care workers commitment and attitude from everyone we spoke with.
People told us that care staff were helpful and kind and confirmed care and support is delivered in a way that respects their privacy and dignity. Examples of some of the
comments we received from people using the service and their relatives are: “they always treat me with respect, I enjoy them coming”; “carers are very kind and patient” and “I always receive a birthday card from the office which means so much to me”. Therefore, we
conclude people’s well-being benefits from positive relationships with care workers.
People are able to speak for themselves and contribute to the decisions that affect their lives. The management team ensures that everyone who uses the service are fully aware of what it provides. This was explained to people at the initial assessment and by providing them with a detailed guide to what the service provides, which also explains how to raise a compliment or concern. The guide is also available to people in Welsh if appropriate.
People and their relatives told us they were actively consulted on the care and support provided. They were also involved in the development and reviews of their personal plans.
Every person we spoke with was very complimentary of the service and the care workers that supported them. They told us: “care givers go that extra mile”; “I really value what the carers do for me” and “the communication with all the staff including office staff is very good”. Therefore, the rights and entitlements of people are actively promoted within the service.
There are clear systems in place to safeguard vulnerable people. We saw that any risks were identified as part of the initial assessment process and reviewed on a regular basis.
These assessments accurately reflected the risks to individuals. They were also reviewed in close consultation with the appropriate health and social care professionals. Safeguarding policies and procedures were aligned to current legislation, national guidance and local adult safeguarding procedures. We found following discussions that care workers demonstrated good knowledge of the safeguarding process, and knew the people they supported extremely well. People who used the service told us they “felt very safe” with
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care workers who provided their care and support. Therefore, people are safe and risks to their health and wellbeing are minimised.
2.Care and support
Our findings
People receiving a service are safe and as far as possible protected from risk. We saw any risks to people had been recorded and clear guidance was provided to care workers to follow. This ensured any identified risks to people were minimised. These included areas such as manual handling, maintaining skin integrity and any risks presented in the person’s home environment. Care workers all received safeguarding training as part of their initial induction process and updates were provided when appropriate. The management team maintained an open-door policy and maintained good channels of communication with staff, people and their relatives. We saw evidence that care workers had engaged in regular staff meetings where the care and support needs of people were discussed. This included any identified risk and how this could be managed. Discussions with care workers demonstrated they had a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities for raising concerns both internally and externally. Care workers told us “the manager and the responsible individual are always available” and “any issues we have are always discussed”. People and their relatives were also fully aware on how to contact the manager or the responsible individual to raise a concern if need be. Therefore, the provider has appropriate mechanisms in place to safeguard vulnerable individuals to whom they provide care and support.
People can feel confident there is an accurate and up to date plan for how their care is to be provided. We found care planning documentation to be well organised. People who received the service and their relatives told us they felt their views were always considered.
The service completed detailed initial assessments within the person’s own home. This included a comprehensive profile of the person. Information included the person’s
employment, hobbies, interests, family members and health conditions. This we felt was a very useful way for care workers to get to know the people they supported. We saw
personal plans were well set out and provided clear guidance for care workers on how the care and support was to be provided. These had been reviewed as required or sooner if a person’s needs changed. We found daily records to be clear, informative and signed by the care worker. Therefore, there is good detail to inform and enable care staff to meet the individual’s care and support needs and to achieve the best possible outcomes.
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People are supported to manage their medication safely. We found personal plans
highlighted the medication people received and were clear and accurately recorded. Care workers had regular training in medication administration and a policy was available which provided clear guidance. Care workers told us they felt “well trained” in administering medication and were clear on their responsibilities. Therefore, there are safe systems in place for medicines management.
3.Leadership and Management
Our findings
There are effective arrangements in place for the oversight of the service to ensure the best possible outcomes for people. We found the manager and responsible individual (RI) to be approachable, organised and they made themselves available throughout the inspection.
All information requested was promptly provided. There was a relaxed, friendly but
professional atmosphere in the office. We saw during the inspection that management was accessible and supportive to people and care workers who telephoned or visited the office, and to administrative staff. They also demonstrated through discussions a good
understanding of the care needs of people who used the service. We saw up to date
policies and procedures were in place, which placed people at the centre of the service and facilitated the aims of the service in line with the statement of purpose. In addition, the RI had further developed work in the community and run local dementia workshops to help people understand the illness and for some families to share their experiences. The service is professional and promotes the well-being of individuals.
The service has a clear detailed quality assurance process. Regular management meetings took place to review the running of the service and we noted the RI had a sound oversight of the service. We saw the most recent Quality Service Review for 2018. We evidenced that consultation with people who use the service, relatives, care workers and other
professionals formed part of the auditing and quality assurance process. We saw that staff meetings were held regularly giving care workers the opportunity to discuss service delivery and to keep up to date with any developments in the service. We therefore conclude that people benefit from a service, which has effective quality assurance processes in place, where their views are considered and they are able to contribute to the development and improvement of the service.
People are supported by a service that provides appropriate numbers of care workers, who have the knowledge, competency, skills and qualifications to provide the levels of care and support needed. We spoke with some highly motivated care workers who told us “I
thoroughly enjoy what I do”, “this is the best job I’ve ever had”, “management is very helpful and supportive”, “my training has given me the skills and knowledge I need”, “I feel I have
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day”. The staff files we saw were well organised and showed that there was good
recruitment and induction processes in place. Records showed that care workers had one to one supervision with their line manager on a regular basis. These evidenced that training and their personal development was discussed and goals set. This was confirmed in
discussions with care workers. We saw care workers had access to good training on an ongoing basis which was both in-house and external training. Therefore, we found that care workers were supported to be confident and competent in their role, which enabled them to positively contribute to the wellbeing of people who use the service.
People and relatives we spoke with told us that they usually had the same team of care workers who supported them and that anyone different would always be introduced to them first. They also told us they had not experienced any missed calls and knew how to contact the office and who to speak to. People told us they felt confident that the management team would address any concerns they would have. Comments from people and relatives who used the service included, “the service is very efficient, my mother loves the care givers”,
“excellent service”, “never experienced any late or any missed calls” and “would highly recommend this service”. To ensure timely visits to people the service uses an electronic call monitoring system. This required care workers to scan in and out of every visit using an application on their mobile phones. The office staff who monitor the system told us that it works very well and enables the care staff to access their rotas and any messages. We conclude that the service has systems and processes in place to monitor the care and support delivered to people.
4. Quality Of The Environment
Our findings
The Quality of Environment is not a theme we explore in any detail for domiciliary support services, as care is provided in people’s own homes. However, we saw that the office environment provided a comfortable, well-equipped space for people to work and provided training facilities and meeting rooms. There was sufficient parking available for both staff and visitors. We saw that the registered office is appropriate for the needs of the service and that there are lockable filing cabinets for the secure storage of care files and staff information.
The office was welcoming and friendly. We saw care and office staff using the office facilities to provide information, advice and guidance to people in a professional manner.
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5.Improvements required and recommended following this inspection
5.1 Areas of non compliance from previous inspections
No non-compliance or recommendations for improvement were made at the last inspection.
5.2 Recommendations for improvement
No recommendations for improvement were made following this inspection.
How we undertook this inspection
This was the first inspection of Home Instead Senior Care (Coleridge Homes Ltd) following re-registration under The Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act (RISCA) 2016. One inspector undertook a scheduled full inspection over four separate days, on 27/06/19, 28/06/19, 01/07/19 and 04/07/19. The following methodology was used:
Two announced visits to the agency office.
Discussions with the responsible individual and service manager.
Discussions with care staff and office staff.
Home visits to four people who use the service.
Discussion with two relatives over the telephone.
Examination of six people’s records
Examination of six staff records that included recruitment process, supervision and training.
Examination of a range of documentation pertaining to the service, such as the statement of purpose, complaints procedures and quality assurance processes.
Further information about what we do can be found on our website:
www.careinspectorate.wales
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About the service
Type of care provided Domiciliary Support Service Service Provider Coleridge Homes Ltd
Manager A manager is in post who is registered with Social Care Wales.
Date of previous Care Inspectorate
Wales inspection 11/09/2017
Dates of this Inspection visit(s) 27/06/2019, 29/06/2019, 01/072019 and 04/07/2019 Operating Language of the service English
Does this service provide the Welsh Language active offer? Yes Additional Information:
Date Published 03/09/2019
No noncompliance records found in Open status.
