Earls Farmhouse, a small domiciliary care agency supporting seven people, was rated Good overall at its first inspection with positive feedback on safety, effectiveness, care and responsiveness. Well-led was rated Requires Improvement due to underdeveloped governance systems, unreliable visit-monitoring records, and gaps in detail within risk assessments and care plans.
Concerns (5)
moderate
Governance
: “this system was not working effectively and there were numerous errors relating to staff signing in and out for visits and the length of visits being recorded incorrectly”
moderateGovernance: “most of the information about managing the service being 'in their head'. They told us they still needed to develop systems for monitoring aspects of the service”
minorRecord keeping: “risk assessments would have benefitted from more specific detail to guide staff in some areas of people's support”
minorCare planning: “not all of the information staff knew about people's likes and dislikes were recorded in support plans to support new staff members”
minorSupervision / appraisal: “formalising systems for staff supervision and collecting feedback from people, relatives and the staff team”
Strengths
· People and relatives were positive about the safe, kind and compassionate care received
· Staff trained in safeguarding and knew how to report concerns
· Care visits happened on time and lasted the correct duration with consistent staff
· People supported safely with medicines, including PRN protocols and competency checks
· Robust recruitment checks completed in line with legislation
Quality-Statement breakdown (5)
safe: Is the service safe?Good
effective: Is the service effective?Good
caring: Is the service caring?Good
responsive: Is the service responsive?Good
well-led: Is the service well-led?Requires improvement